The Physics of Star Cluster Formation and Evolution

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00689-4.Star clusters form in dense, hierarchically collapsing gas clouds. Bulk kinetic energy is transformed to turbulence with stars forming from cores fed by filaments. In the most compact regions, stellar feedback is least effective in removing the gas and stars may form very efficiently. These are also the regions where, in high-mass clusters, ejecta from some kind of high-mass stars are effectively captured during the formation phase of some of the low mass stars and effectively channeled into the latter to form multiple populations. Star formation epochs in star clusters are generally set by gas flows that determine the abundance of gas in the cluster. We argue that there is likely only one star formation epoch after which clusters remain essentially clear of gas by cluster winds. Collisional dynamics is important in this phase leading to core collapse, expansion and eventual dispersion of every cluster. We review recent developments in the field with a focus on theoretical work.Peer reviewe

Star clusters near and far; tracing star formation across cosmic time

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00690-x.Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their surrounding ionised, warm, neutral, and molecular gas. We, then, move beyond the Local Group to review star cluster populations at various evolutionary stages, and in diverse galactic environmental conditions accessible in the local Universe. At high redshift, where conditions for cluster formation and evolution are more extreme, we are only able to observe the integrated light of a handful of objects that we believe will become globular clusters. We therefore discuss how numerical and analytical methods, informed by the observed properties of cluster populations in the local Universe, are used to develop sophisticated simulations potentially capable of disentangling the genetic map of galaxy formation and assembly that is carried by globular cluster populations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

TESS Delivers Five New Hot Giant Planets Orbiting Bright Stars from the Full-frame Images

We present the discovery and characterization of five hot and warm Jupiters - TOI-628 b (TIC 281408474; HD 288842), TOI-640 b (TIC 147977348), TOI-1333 b (TIC 395171208, BD+47 3521A), TOI-1478 b (TIC 409794137), and TOI-1601 b (TIC 139375960) - based on data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The five planets were identified from the full-frame images and were confirmed through a series of photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations by the TESS Follow-up Observing Program Working Group. The planets are all Jovian size (R P = 1.01-1.77 R J) and have masses that range from 0.85 to 6.33 M J. The host stars of these systems have F and G spectral types (5595 ≤ T eff ≤ 6460 K) and are all relatively bright (9.5 1.7 R J, possibly a result of its host star's evolution) and resides on an orbit with a period longer than 5 days. TOI-628 b is the most massive, hot Jupiter discovered to date by TESS with a measured mass of 6.31-0.30+0.28 M J and a statistically significant, nonzero orbital eccentricity of e = 0.074-0.022+0.021. This planet would not have had enough time to circularize through tidal forces from our analysis, suggesting that it might be remnant eccentricity from its migration. The longest-period planet in this sample, TOI-1478 b (P = 10.18 days), is a warm Jupiter in a circular orbit around a near-solar analog. NASA's TESS mission is continuing to increase the sample of well-characterized hot and warm Jupiters, complementing its primary mission goals

Eogenetic Karst from the Perspective of an Equivalent Porous Medium

The porosity of young limestones experiencing meteoric diagenesis in the vicinity of their deposition (eogenetic karst) is mainly a double porosity consisting of touching-vug channels and preferred passageways lacing through a matrix of interparticle porosity. In contrast, the porosity of limestones experiencing subaerial erosion following burial diagenesis and uplift (telogenetic karst) is mainly a double porosity consisting of conduits within a network of fractures. The stark contrast between these two kinds of karst is illustrated by their position on a graph showing the hydraulic characteristics of an equivalent porous medium consisting of straight, cylindrical tubes (n-D space, where n is porosity,D is the diameter of the tubes, and logn is plotted against logD). Studies of the hydrology of small carbonate islands show that large-scale, horizontal hydraulic conductivity (K) increases by orders of magnitude during the evolution of eogenetic karst. Earlier petrologic studies have shown there is little if any change in the total porosity of the limestone during eogenetic diagenesis. The limestone of eogenetic karst, therefore, tracks horizontally inn-D space. In contrast, the path from initial sedimentary material to telogenetic karst comprises a descent on the graph with reduction ofn during burial diagenesis, then a sideways shift with increasingD due to opening of fractures during uplift and exposure, and finally an increase inD andn during development of the conduits along the fractures. Eogenetic caves are mainly limited to boundaries between geologic units and hydrologic zones: stream caves at the contact between carbonates and underlying impermeable rocks (and collapse-origin caves derived therefrom); vertical caves along platform-margin fractures; epikarst; phreatic pockets (banana holes) along the water table; and flank margin caves that form as mixing chambers at the coastal freshwater-saltwater “interface”. In contrast, the caverns of telogenetic karst are part of a system of interconnected conduits that drain an entire region. The eogenetic caves of small carbonate islands are, for the most part, not significantly involved in the drainage of the island