Formation of Very Young Massive Clusters and implications for globular clusters

TL;DR

This paper reviews computational studies of Very Young Massive Clusters (VYMCs), highlighting how N-body models reproduce observed properties and explore their connection to globular clusters, shedding light on their formation and evolution.

Contribution

It provides an integrated review of N-body simulations of VYMCs, discussing their formation, structure, and relation to globular clusters, with some new insights and discussions.

Findings

N-body models successfully reproduce observed VYMC characteristics.

Monolithic models with residual gas expulsion explain cluster formation.

Connections between VYMCs and ancient globular clusters are discussed.

Abstract

How Very Young Massive star Clusters (VYMCs; also known as "starburst" clusters), which typically are of $\gtrsim 10^4M_\odot$ and are a few Myr old, form out of Giant Molecular Clouds is still largely an open question. Increasingly detailed observations of young star clusters and star-forming molecular clouds and computational studies provide clues about their formation scenarios and the underlying physical processes involved. This chapter is focused on reviewing the decade-long studies that attempt to computationally reproduce the well-observed nearby VYMCs, such as the Orion Nebula Cluster, R136 and NGC 3603 young cluster, thereby shedding light on birth conditions of massive star clusters, in general. On this regard, focus is given on direct N-body modeling of real-sized massive star clusters, with a monolithic structure and undergoing residual gas expulsion, which have consistently reproduced the observed characteristics of several VYMCs and also of young star clusters, in general. The connection of these relatively simplified model calculations with the structural richness of dense molecular clouds and the complexity of hydrodynamic calculations of star cluster formation is presented in detail. Furthermore, the connections of such VYMCs with globular clusters, which are nearly as old as our Universe, is discussed. The chapter is concluded by addressing long-term deeply gas-embedded (at least apparently) and substructured systems like W3 Main. While most of the results are quoted from existing and up-to-date literature, in an integrated fashion, several new insights and discussions are provided.