A simple two-component description of energy equipartition and mass segregation for anisotropic globular clusters

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple two-component model to describe energy equipartition and mass segregation in anisotropic globular clusters, validated against realistic Monte Carlo simulations, offering a new diagnostic tool for analyzing such systems.

Contribution

It develops and demonstrates a two-component truncated model that accurately describes the density, velocity dispersion, and anisotropy profiles of simulated globular clusters, improving upon isotropic King models.

Findings

Two-component models effectively fit simulated profiles.

Models quantify levels of energy equipartition and mass segregation.

Isotropic King models are less accurate for relaxed systems.

Abstract

In weakly collisional stellar systems such as some globular clusters, partial energy equipartition and mass segregation are expected to develop as a result of the cumulative effect of stellar encounters even in systems initially characterized by star-mass independent density and energy distributions. In parallel, numerical simulations have demonstrated that radially-biased pressure anisotropy slowly builds up in realistic models of globular clusters from initial isotropic conditions, leading to anisotropy profiles that, to some extent, mimic those resulting from incomplete violent relaxation known to be relevant to elliptical galaxies. In this paper we consider a set of realistic simulations realized by means of Monte Carlo methods and analyze them by means of self-consistent two-component models. For the purpose, we refer to an underlying distribution function, originally conceived to describe elliptical galaxies, that has been recently truncated and adapted to the context of globular clusters. The two components are meant to represent light stars (combining all main sequence stars) and heavy stars (giants, dark remnants, and binaries). We show that this conceptually simple family of two-component truncated models provides a reasonable description of simulated density, velocity dispersion, and anisotropy profiles, especially for the most relaxed systems, with the capability to express quantitatively the attained levels of energy equipartition and mass segregation. In contrast, two-component isotropic models based on the King distribution function do not offer a comparably satisfactory representation of the simulated globular clusters. With this work we provide a new reliable diagnostic tool applicable to nonrotating globular clusters that are characterized by significant gradients in the local value of the mass-to-light ratio, beyond the commonly used one-component dynamical models.