TY - CONF
T1 - New science from the phase space of old stellar systems
AU - Varri, Anna Lisa
AU - Breen, Philip G.
AU - Heggie, Douglas C.
AU - Tiongco, Maria
AU - Vesperini, Enrico
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - Our traditional interpretative picture of the internal dynamics of
globular clusters has been recently revolutionized by a series of
discoveries about their chemical, structural, and kinematic properties.
The empirical evidence that their velocity space is much more complex
than usually expected encourages us to use them as refreshingly novel
phase space laboratories for some long-forgotten aspects of collisional
gravitational dynamics. Such a realization, coupled with the discovery
that the stars in clusters were not all born at once in a single
population, makes them new, challenging chemodynamical puzzles.Thanks to
the proper motions of thousands of stars that will be available from the
Gaia mission, we are about to enter a new ''golden age'' for the study
of the dynamics of this class of stellar systems, as the full phase
space of several Galactic globular clusters will be soon unlocked for
the first time. In this context, I will present the highlights of a more
realistic dynamical paradigm for these intriguing stellar systems, with
emphasis on the role of angular momentum, velocity anisotropy and
external tidal field. Such a fundamental understanding of the emerging
phase space complexity of globulars will allow us to address many open
questions about their rich dynamical evolution, their elusive stellar
populations and putative black holes, and their role within the history
of our Galaxy.
AB - Our traditional interpretative picture of the internal dynamics of
globular clusters has been recently revolutionized by a series of
discoveries about their chemical, structural, and kinematic properties.
The empirical evidence that their velocity space is much more complex
than usually expected encourages us to use them as refreshingly novel
phase space laboratories for some long-forgotten aspects of collisional
gravitational dynamics. Such a realization, coupled with the discovery
that the stars in clusters were not all born at once in a single
population, makes them new, challenging chemodynamical puzzles.Thanks to
the proper motions of thousands of stars that will be available from the
Gaia mission, we are about to enter a new ''golden age'' for the study
of the dynamics of this class of stellar systems, as the full phase
space of several Galactic globular clusters will be soon unlocked for
the first time. In this context, I will present the highlights of a more
realistic dynamical paradigm for these intriguing stellar systems, with
emphasis on the role of angular momentum, velocity anisotropy and
external tidal field. Such a fundamental understanding of the emerging
phase space complexity of globulars will allow us to address many open
questions about their rich dynamical evolution, their elusive stellar
populations and putative black holes, and their role within the history
of our Galaxy.
M3 - Paper
ER -