Globular Clusters - Guides to Galaxies

Abstract

Mergers of gas-rich galaxies lead to gravitationally driven increases in gas pressure that can trigger intense bursts of star and cluster formation. Although star formation itself is clustered, most newborn stellar aggregates are unbound associations and disperse. Gravitationally bound star clusters that survive for at least 10-20 internal crossing times (~20-40 Myr) are relatively rare and seem to contain 10% of all stars formed in the starbursts. The most massive young globular clusters formed in present-day mergers exceed ω Cen by an order of magnitude in mass, yet appear to have normal stellar initial mass functions.