Close stellar flybys common in low-mass clusters

TL;DR

This study reveals that close stellar flybys are more common in low-mass clusters than previously thought, significantly impacting protoplanetary disc evolution and challenging existing assumptions about cluster dynamics.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that low-mass clusters have similar stellar densities to high-mass clusters, leading to a higher frequency of close flybys than previously estimated.

Findings

Low-mass clusters have comparable densities to high-mass clusters.

Close flybys influence disc sizes similarly across cluster masses.

Approximately 10-15% of discs in low-mass clusters are truncated by flybys.

Abstract

Numerous protoplanetary discs show distinct spiral arms features. While possibly caused by a range of processes, detailed pattern analysis points at close stellar flybys as cause for some of them. Surprisingly, these discs reside in young low-mass clusters, where close stellar flybys are expected to be rare. This fact motivated us to take a fresh look at the frequency of close flybys in low-mass clusters. In the solar neighbourhood, low-mass clusters have smaller half-mass radii than their more massive counterparts. We show that this observational fact results in the mean and central stellar density of low-mass clusters being approximately the same as in high-mass clusters, which is rarely reflected in theoretical studies. We perform N-body simulations of the stellar dynamics in young clusters obeying the observed mass-radius relation. Taking the mean disc truncation radius as a proxy for the degree of influence of the environment, we find that the influence of the environment on discs is more or less the same in low- and high-mass clusters. Even the fraction of small discs($<$ 10 au) is nearly identical. Our main conclusion is that the frequency of close flybys seems to have been severely underestimated for low-mass clusters. A testable prediction of this hypothesis is that low-mass clusters should contain 10%-15% of discs smaller than 30 au truncated by flybys. These truncated discs should be distinguishable from primordially small discs by their steep outer edge.