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@MASTERSTHESIS{Arunima:910873,
author = {Arunima, Arunima},
title = {{Y}oung {S}tar {C}lusters:characterising their history
using unbound members},
school = {University Cologna},
type = {Masterarbeit},
reportid = {FZJ-2022-04223},
pages = {111 p},
year = {2022},
note = {Masterarbeit, University Cologna, 2022},
abstract = {Most stars do not form in isolation, but in groups referred
to as star clusters. The characterization of star clusters
using the astrometry of their members has been
revolutionized by Gaia as it provides an unprecedented
precision which makes the membership determination more
accurate and complete than ever. The data show that most
young clusters expand, supporting the hypothesis that the
gas expulsion process at the end of the star formation leads
to cluster expansion. This makes young clusters highly
dynamic entities where the observations only provide
snapshots of the cluster’s evolution. The central aim of
this study is to investigate how a cluster’s past can be
recovered from the present astrometry of its members. We
take into account the dynamic nature of the cluster and the
observational limitations.To this end, we perform
simulations, using NBODY6++, of clusters modelled using
observationally motivated initial conditions and mass-radius
relations to recreate the star clusters in the solar
neighbourhood. The simulations start after the star
formation in the cluster has been completed and provide the
complete 3D positions and velocities of the members until 10
Myr. In the past studies of star clusters, the focus was
mainly on the stars that remain bound to the cluster.
However, this work shows that the unbound stars retain more
information about the past of the cluster than the bound
stars due to numerous close encounters amongst the latter.
Backtracking the unbound members can provide theoriginal
size and age of the cluster at the time of gas expulsion -
two parameters that are still poorly constrained. However,
observational challenges such as uncertainty in velocities
and masses of the members and incomplete membership limit
the accuracy of the derived parameters. Uncertainties affect
the derived pre-expansion cluster size more significantly
than the value of the time of gas expulsion. The distinction
of bound and unbound members in the observational scenario
also presents a difficulty due to the dynamic nature of
young clusters. Velocity vector direction relative to the
cluster centre often fails as a distinction criterion.
Immediately after gas expulsion, bound and unbound members
occupy the same space in distance and velocity distributions
up to 5 Myr. This leads to highly inaccurate classification
if the much-used ad hoc distance and velocity cut-offs are
applied during the early evolution of the cluster. However,
this work provides cut-off suggestions for clusters along
with their performance measures that can be applied to the
observations of (at least) 5 Myr old clusters. Finally, the
application of the backtracking analysis using the members
of the Upper Scorpius association provides kinematic age
estimates in the range of 2 - 4.3 Myr, which does not agree
with the isochronal estimates of its age. However, it is in
agreement with other kinematic studies of the area. In
summary, considering unbound members for the kinematic
analysis of a cluster can provide better constraints on the
past parameters of the cluster.},
cin = {JSC},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)JSC-20090406},
pnm = {899 - ohne Topic (POF4-899)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-899},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)19},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/910873},
}