Astrophysics > Astrophysics of Galaxies
[Submitted on 1 May 2024]
Title:Mass segregation and velocity dispersion as evidence for a dark star cluster
View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:A dark star cluster (DSC) is a system in which the cluster potential is dominated by stellar remnants, such as black holes and neutron stars having larger masses than the long-lived low-mass stars. Due to mass segregation, these remnants are located in the central region of the cluster and form a dark core. We expect that at a few kpc from the Galactic centre, the efficient evaporation of the lower-mass stars caused by the strong tidal force exposes the dark core, because the dynamical properties of the DSC are dominated by the remnants. Due to the invisibility of the remnants, finding a DSC by observation is challenging. In this project, we use $N$-body simulations to obtain models of DSCs and try to discern observables that signify a DSC. We consider four observables: the mass spectrum, the observational mass density profile, the observational velocity dispersion profile and the mass segregation. The models show that a DSC typically exhibits two distinct characteristics: for a given mass in stars and a given half-light radius the expected velocity dispersion is underestimated when only visible stars are considered, and there is a lack of measurable mass segregation among the stars. These properties can be helpful for finding DSCs in observational data, such as the Gaia catalogue.
Current browse context:
astro-ph.GA
Change to browse by:
References & Citations
Bibliographic and Citation Tools
Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?)
Litmaps (What is Litmaps?)
scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?)
Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article
CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?)
DagsHub (What is DagsHub?)
Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?)
Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?)
ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?)
Demos
Recommenders and Search Tools
Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?)
Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?)
CORE Recommender (What is CORE?)
IArxiv Recommender
(What is IArxiv?)
arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators
arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.
Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.
Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.