Dense Star Clusters in Evolving Galaxies: From the Halo to the Galactic Center

by Alessandra Mastrobuono Battisti (Università degli Studi di Padova)

Thursday 22 May 2025, 11:30 → 12:30 Europe/Rome

Sala Jappelli (Osservatorio astronomico di Padova)

Globular clusters are among the oldest stellar systems in the Milky Way and powerful tracers of its formation history. Their orbits, chemical compositions, and internal dynamics reveal signatures of both in-situ formation and accretion from disrupted satellites. In this seminar, I will present N-body simulations that follow the chemo-dynamical evolution of globular clusters along their full journey—from formation to dissolution—as they lose stars, interact with the Milky Way’s tidal field, and spiral toward the Galactic center. I will show how early mergers between globular clusters, combined with mass-loss processes, may contribute to shaping their internal properties, including metallicity distribution functions and the emergence of multiple stellar populations. In the inner Galaxy, these inspiraling systems can merge and deposit stars into the nuclear star cluster. I will discuss how these processes leave observable dynamical imprints, including rotation and structural asymmetries, and how they help us reconstruct the assembly of the Milky Way’s central regions. Finally, I will present recent results on the dynamics of nuclear star clusters formed in mergers and their connection in tracing supermassive black hole binaries, with implications for future observations with LISA and other upcoming facilities.

 

Join Zoom Meeting
 

https://unipd.zoom.us/j/85273198731?pwd=V1ZiNE9ZWUN4ZTdIUzJsTFo0Z3U2Zz09
Meeting ID: 852 7319 8731
Passcode: 208186