The Spatial Evolution of Stellar Structures in the LMC (2008)
Bastian, Nate, Gieles, Mark, Ercolano, Barbara, Gutermuth, Rob
We present an analysis of the spatial distribution of various stellar populations within the Large Magellanic Cloud. We combine mid-infrared selected young stellar objects, optically selected samples...
An alternative method to study star cluster disruption (2008)
Many embedded star clusters do not evolve into long-lived bound clusters. The most popular explanation for this "infant mortality" of young clusters is the expulsion of natal gas by stellar winds and...
Gaburov, Evghenii, Gieles, Mark
We consider the effect of mass segregation on the observable integrated properties of star clusters. The measurable properties depend on a combination of the dynamical age of the cluster and the...
Star cluster life-times: dependence on mass, radius and environment (2007)
Gieles, Mark, Lamers, Henny, Baumgardt, Holger
The dissolution time (t_dis) of clusters in a tidal field does not scale with the ``classical'' expression for the relaxation time. First, the scaling with N, and hence cluster mass, is shallower due...
Cluster Disruption: Combining Theory and Observations (2006)
We review the theory and observations of star cluster disruption. The three main phases and corresponding typical timescales of cluster disruption are: I) Infant Mortality (~10^7 yr), II) Stellar...
Clusters in the solar neighbourhood: how are they destroyed? (2006)
We predict the survival time of initially bound star clusters in the solar neighbourhood taking into account: (1) stellar evolution, (2) tidal stripping, (3) shocking by spiral arms and (4)...
Gieles, Mark, Larsen, Soeren, Bastian, Nate, Stein, Ilaan
We introduce a method to relate a possible truncation of the star cluster mass function at the high mass end to the shape of the cluster luminosity function (LF). We compare the observed LFs of five...
Gieles, Mark, Larsen, Soeren, Scheepmaker, Remco, Bastian, Nate, Haas, Marcel, Lamers, Henny
We present the luminosity function (LF) of star clusters in M51 based on HST/ACS observations taken as part of the Hubble Heritage project. The clusters are selected based on their size and with the...
Hierarchical Star Formation in M51: Star/Cluster Complexes (2005)
Bastian, Nate, Gieles, Mark, Efremov, Yuri N.
We report on a study of young star cluster complexes in the spiral galaxy M51. Recent studies have confirmed that star clusters do not form in isolation, but instead tend to form in larger groupings...
The Star Cluster Population of M51: III. Cluster disruption and formation history (2005)
Gieles, Mark, Bastian, Nate, Lamers, Henny, Mout, Jacqueline
In this work we concentrate on the evolution of the cluster population of the interacting galaxy M51 (NGC 5194), namely the timescale of cluster disruption and possible variations in the cluster...
Lamers, Henny, Gieles, Mark, Bastian, Nate, Baumgardt, Holger, Kharchenko, Nina, Zwart, Simon Portegies
We present a simple analytical description of the disruption of star clusters in a tidal field, which agrees excellently with detailed N-body simulations. The analytic expression can be used to...
Disruption time scales of star clusters in different galaxies (2004)
Gieles, Mark, Zwart, Simon F. Portegies
The observed average lifetime of the population of star clusters in the Solar Neighbourhood, the Small Magellanic Cloud and in selected regions of M51 and M33 is compared with simple theoretical...