The Life and Death of Globular Clusters
Abstract
Globular clusters are embedded in galactic potential. Various processes such as dynamical friction, steady tidal field, and shocks by disk and bulge contribute to the dissolution of globular clusters. Most of them are closely coupled with internal dynamical processes. The tidal shock is very effective during the initial phase of the cluster evolution while steady tidal field becomes more important in the later phase. Recent studies revealed that the rotation of the cluster could significantly accelerate the evolution and evaporation. We emphasize that the lifetime of the clusters could be much shorter than the previous estimates of ∼ 20 trh for more realistic models.
- Publication:
-
Extragalactic Star Clusters
- Pub Date:
- 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002IAUS..207..584L