Many key problems in astrophysics involve research on the properties of star clusters, for example: stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis, the history of star formation in galaxies, formation dynamics of galaxies and their subsystems, the calibration of the fundamental distance scale in the universe, and the luminosity functions of stars and star clusters. This review is intended to familiarize the reader with modern observational and theoretical data on the formation and evolution of star clusters in our galaxy and others. Unsolved problems in this area are formulated and research on ways to solve them is discussed. In particular, some of the most important current observational and theoretical problems include: (1) a more complete explanation of the physical processes in molecular clouds leading to the formation and evolution of massive star clusters; (2) observation of these objects in different stages of evolution, including protoclusters, at wavelengths where interstellar absorption is minimal; and, (3) comparison of the properties of massive star clusters in different galaxies and of galaxies during the most active star formation phase at different red shifts. The main goal in solving these problems is to explain the variations in the abundance of chemical elements and in the multiple populations of stars in clusters discovered at the end of the twentieth century.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Acharova I. A. and Shevtsova E. S., Astrophysical Bulletin, accepted (2016).
Adamo A., Kruijssen J. M. D., Bastian N., Silva-Villa E., and Ryon J., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 452, 246 (2015).
Ashman K. M. and Zepf S. E., Astrophys. J. 384, 50 (1992).
Banerjee, Kroupa, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 447, 728 (2015).
Bastian N. and Niederhofer F., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 448, 1863 (2015).
Bastian N., Cabrera-Ziri I., Davies B., and Larsen S. S., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 436, 2852 (2013).
Bastian N. and de Mink S. E., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 398, L11 (2009)
Bekki K., Yahagi H., Nagashima M., and Forbes D. A., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 387, 1131 (2008).
Bekki K. and Yahagi H., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 372, 1019 (2006a).
Bekki K., Couch W. J., and Shioya Y., Astrophys. J. Letters, 642, L133 (2006b).
Bekki K. and Norris J. E., Astrophys. J. Letters, 637, L109 (2006).
Bekki K., Couch W. J., Drinkwater M. J., and Gregg M. D., Astrophys. J. 557, 39 (2001).
Bertelli G., Nasi E., Girardi L., and Marigo P., Astron. Astrophys. 508, 335 (2009).
Binggeli B., Sandage A., and Tammann G. A., Astron. J. 90, 1681 (1985).
Carretta E., Bragaglia A., Gratton R., et al, Astron. Astrophys. 516, 55 (2010).
Carretta E., Bragaglia A., Gratton R., and Lucatello S., Astron. Astrophys. 505, 139 (2009).
Carney B. W., Star Clusters, Saas-Fee Advanced Courses, Volume 28. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (2001), p. 1.
Chabrier G., in: E. Corbelli, et al., ed., The Initial Mass Function 50 years later, Springer, Dordrecht, 327, 41 (2005).
Chandar R., Fall S. M., and Whitmore B. C., Astrophys. J. 810, 1 (2015).
Chattopadhyay T., Sharina M., Davoust E., De T., and Chattopadhyay A. K., Astrophys. J. 750, 91 (2012).
Chilingarian I. V. and Mamon G. A., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 385, L83 (2008)
Clark P. C., Bonnell I. A., and Klessen R. S., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 386, 3 (2008).
Cote P., et al., Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 165, 57 (2006).
D’Ercole A., D’Antona F., Ventura P., Vesperini E., and McMillan S. L. W., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 407, 854 (2010).
Dale J. E., Ercolano B., and Bonnell I. A., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 451, 987 (2015).
Decressin T., Meynet G., Charbonnel C., Prantzos N., and Ekstrom S., Astron. Astrophys. 464, 1029 (2007).
Denissenkov P. A. and Hartwick F. D. A., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 437, L21 (2014).
DeSouza A. L. and Basu S., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 450, 295 (2015).
Dotter A., Ferguson J. W., Conroy C., et al., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 446, 1641 (2015).
Efremov Yu. N. and Elmegreen B., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 299, 588 (1998).
Efremov Yu. N., Star Formation Sites in Galaxies: star complexes and spiral arms, Nauka, Moscow (1989).
Elmegreen B. G., Astrophys. J. 564, 773 (2002).
Elmegreen B. and Efremov Yu. N., Astrophys. J. 480, 235 (1997).
Elmegreen B. and Lada C., Astrophys. J. 214, 725 (1977).
Fall S. M. and Chandar R., Astrophys. J. 752, 96 (2012).
Fall S. M. and Rees M. J. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 181, 37 (1977).
Ferguson H. C., Astron. J. 98, 367 (1989).
Forbes D. A., Lasky P., Graham A. W., and Spitler L., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 389, 1924 (2008).
Forbes D. A., Brodie J. P., and Grillmair C. J. Astron. J. 113, 1652 (1997).
Freeman K. C. and Norris J., Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 19, 319 (1981).
Fukui Y., et al., Astrophys. J. Lett., 807, L4 (2015a).
Fukui Y., et al., arXiv:1504. 05391 (2015b).
Fukui Y., et al., Astrophys. J. 780, 36 (2014).
Fukui Y. and Kawamura A., Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 48, 547 (2010).
Furukawa N., et al., Astrophys. J. Lett., 696, L115 (2009).
Geha M., Guhathakurta P., and van der Marel R. P., Astron. J. 124, 3073 (2002).
Georgiev I. Y., Hilker M., Puzia T. H., Goudfrooij P., and Baumgardt H., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 396, 1075 (2009).
Girardi L., Rubele S., and Kerber L., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 394, L74 (2009).
Gnedin O. Y., Ostriker J. P., and Tremaine S., Astrophys. J. 785, 71 (2014).
Gnedin O. Y. and Ostriker J. P., Astrophys. J. 474, 223 (1997).
Gomez G. C. and Vazquez-Semadeni E., Astrophys. J. 791, 124 (2014).
Gozha M. L., Borkova T. V., and Marsakov V. A., Astron. Lett., 38, 506 (2012).
Graham A. W., Astrophys. J. 568, L13 (2002).
Gratton R., Sneden C., and Carretta E., Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 42, 385 (2004).
Gratton R. G., Carretta E., and Bragaglia A., Astron. Astrophys. Rev., 20, 50 (2012).
Hanes D. A., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 180, 309 (1977).
Harris W. E., in: Star Clusters, Saas-Fee Advanced Courses, Vol. 28. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, p. 223 (2001).
Harris W. E. and Racine R., Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 17, 241 (1979).
Harris W. E. and Van den Bergh S., Astron. J. 86, 1627 (1981).
Heger A. and Woosley S. E., Astrophys. J. 567, 532 (2002).
Herrera C. N. and Boulanger F., IAU General Assembly, Meeting 29, 2252184 (2015).
Ho L. C. and Filippenko A. V., Astrophys. J. 472, 600 (1996a).
Ho L. C. and Filippenko A. V., Astrophys. J. 466, 83 (1996a).
Hilker M., Infante L., Viera G., Kissler-Patig M., and Richtler T., Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 134, 75 (1999)
Hudson M. J. Harris G. L., and Harris W. E., Astrophys. J. 787, 5 (2014).
Ibata R. A., et al., Astrophys. J. Letters, 784, 6 (2014)
Inoue T. and Fukui Y., Astrophys. J. Letters, 774, 31 (2013).
Johnson K. E., Leroy A. K., Indebetouw R, et al., Astrophys. J. 806, 35 (2015).
Johnson K. E., Hunt L. K., and Reines A. E., Astron. J. 137, 3788 (2009).
Karachensteva V. E. and Sharina M. E., Soobshcheniya Spetsial’noi Astrofizicheskoi Observatorii, 57, 5 (1988).
Keto E., Ho L. C., and Lo K.-Y., Astrophys. J. 635, 1062 (2005).
Khamidullina D. A., Sharina M. E., Shimansky V. V., and Davoust E., Baltic Astronomy 23, 260 (2014).
Kholopov P. N., Star clusters, Nauka, Moscow (1981).
Kormendy J. and Bender R., Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 198, 2 (2012).
Kruijssen J. M. D., Classical and Quantum Gravity 31, 244006 (2014).
Kruijssen J. M. D., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 426, 3008 (2012).
Kruijssen J. M. D. and Cooper A. P., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 420, 340 (2012).
Lada C. J. and Lada E. A., Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 41, 57 (2003).
Leaman R., Van den Berg Don A., and Mendel J. T., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 436, 122 (2013).
Lee Y.-W., Joo J.-M., Sohn Y.-J, et al., Nature, 402, L55 (1999).
Li H. and Gnedin O. Y., Astrophys. J. 796, 10 (2014).
Li C., de Grijs R., and Deng L., Nature, 516, 367 (2014a).
Li L., Zhang F., Han Q., Kong X., and Gong X., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 445, 1331 (2014b).
Lisanti M., Spergel D. N., and Madau P., Astrophys. J. 807, 14 (2015).
Lotz J. M., Miller B. W., and Ferguson H. C., Astrophys. J. 613, 262 (2004).
Makarova L. N, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 396, 473 (2002).
Marin-Franch A, et al., Astrophys. J. 694, 1498 (2009).
Marino A. F, et al., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 450, 815 (2015).
Marino A. F, et al., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 442, 3044 (2014a).
Marino A. F, et al., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 437, 1609 (2014b).
Marino A. F, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 541, 15 (2012a).
Marino A. F, et al., Astrophys. J. 746, 14 (2012b).
Marino A. F., Villanova S., Milone A. P, et al., Astrophys. J. Lett., 730, L16 (2011).
Matsumoto T., Toshikazu O., Tokuda K., and Inutsuka S., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 449, L123 (2015).
McLaughlin D. E. and Fall S. M., Astrophys. J. 679, 1272 (2008).
Merritt D., Dynamics and Evolution of Galactic Nuclei, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (2013).
Mieske S., Hilker M., and Misgeld I., Astron. Astrophys. 537, 3 (2012).
Milone A. P, et al., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 450, 3750 (2015).
Milone A. P., Bedin L. R., Cassisi S, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 555, 143 (2013).
Milone A. P., Bedin L. R., Piotto G., and Anderson J., Astron. Astrophys. 497, 755 (2009).
Murali C. and Weinberg M. D., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 291, 717 (1997).
Muratov A. L. and Gnedin O. Y., Astrophys. J. 718, 1266 (2010).
Onishi T., ASP Conference Series, San Francisco, Astron. Soc. Pacif. 476, 85 (2013).
Peebles P. J. E. and Dicke R. H., Astrophys. J. 154, 891 (1968).
Peretto N, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 555, 112 (2013).
Piotto G, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 391, 945 (2002).
Prantzos N., Charbonnel C., Iliadis C, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 470, 179 (2007).
Puzia T. H. and Sharina M. E., Astrophys. J. 674, 909 (2008).
Racine R., in: J. E. Hesser, ed., Star Clusters, IAU Symp. 85, Reidel, Dordrecht (1980), p. 369.
Rodgers A. W., Campbell C. T., and Whiteoak J. B., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 121, 103 (1960).
Rosen A. L., Lopez L. A., Krumholz M. R., and Ramirez-Ruiz E., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 442, 2701 (2014).
Seth A. C, et al., Nature, 513, 398 (2014).
Seth A., Agueros M., Lee D., and Basu-Zych A., Astrophys. J. 678, 116 (2008).
Schechter P., Astrophys. J. 203, 297 (1976).
Schneider N, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 540, L11 (2012).
Schweizer F. and Seitzer P., Astron. J. 133, 2132 (2007).
Schweizer F., in: S. Faber, ed., Nearly Normal Galaxies: From the Planck Time to the Present. Proceedings of the Eighth Santa Cruz Summer Workshop in Astron. Astrophys. Springer-Verlag, New York (1987), p. 18.
Smith R. J. Ioco F., Glover S. C. O, et al., Astrophys. J. 761, 154 (2012).
Sharina M. E., Donzelli C. J. Davoust E., Shimansky V. V., and Charbonnel C., Astron. Astrophys. 570, 48 (2014).
Sharina M. E., Chandar R., Puzia T. H., Goudfrooij P., and Davoust E., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 405, 839 (2010).
Sharina M. E., Puzia T. H., and Makarov D. I., Astron. Astrophys. 442, 85 (2005).
Sharina M. E., Astrophysics, 31, 452 (1989).
Spitler L. R. and Forbes D. A., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 392, 1 (2009).
Spitzer L. Jr., Dynamical Evolution of Globular Clusters, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ (1987), 191 pp.
Surdin V. G., Astron. Lett., 21, 508 (1995).
Surdin V. G., Soviet Astron., 23, 648 (1979).
Subramanian S. and Subramaniam A., Astron. Astrophys. 520, 24 (2010).
Toomre A. and Toomre J., Astrophys. J. 178, 623 (1972).
Toomre A., in: B. M. Tinsley and R. B. Larson, ed., Evolution of Galaxies and Stellar Populations, Proceedings of a Conference at Yale University. New Haven, Yale University Observatory (1977) , p. 40.
Van den Berg D. A., Brogaard K., Leaman R., and Casagrande L. V., Astrophys. J. 775, 134 (2013).
Vesperini E., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 322, 247, (2001).
Walker D. L., Longmore S. N., Bastian N. et al, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 449, 715 (2015).
Whitmore B. C., Brogan C., Chandar R, et al., Astrophys. J. 795, 156 (2014).
Whitmore B. C. and Schweizer F., Astron. J. 109, 960 (1995).
Winston E., Wolk S. J. Bourke T. L, et al., Astrophys. J. 743, 166 (2011).
Wolk S. J. Spitzbart B. D., Bourke T. L., and Alves J., Astron. J. 132, 1100 (2006).
Zinnecker H. and Yorke H. W., Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 45, 481 (2007).
Zwart S. F. P., McMillan S. L. W., and Gieles M., Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 48, 431 (2010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 59, No. 1, pp. 145-168 (February 2016).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sharina, M.E. Properties and Formation of Star Clusters. Astrophysics 59, 126–144 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10511-016-9422-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10511-016-9422-0