Winds driven by super-star clusters: The self-consistent radiative solution

Here we present a self-consistent stationary solution for spherically symmetric winds driven by massive star clusters under the impact of radiative cooling. We demonstrate that cooling may modify drastically the distribution of temperature if the rate of injected energy approaches a critical value. We also prove that the stationary wind solution does not exist whenever the energy radiated away at the star cluster center exceeds ~ 30% of the energy deposition rate. Finally we thoroughly discuss the expected appearance of super-star cluster winds in the X-ray and visible line regimes. The three solutions here found: the quasi-adiabatic, the strongly radiative wind and the inhibited stationary solution, are then compared to the winds from Arches cluster, NGC 4303 central cluster and to the supernebula in NGC 5253.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journa

The Steady State Wind Model for Young Stellar Clusters with an Exponential Stellar Density Distribution

A hydrodynamic model for steady state, spherically-symmetric winds driven by young stellar clusters with an exponential stellar density distribution is presented. Unlike in most previous calculations, the position of the singular point R_sp, which separates the inner subsonic zone from the outer supersonic flow, is not associated with the star cluster edge, but calculated self-consistently. When the radiative losses of energy are negligible, the transition from the subsonic to the supersonic flow occurs always at R_sp ~ 4 R_c, where R_c is the characteristic scale for the stellar density distribution, irrespective of other star cluster parameters. This is not the case in the catastrophic cooling regime, when the temperature drops abruptly at a short distance from the star cluster center and the transition from the subsonic to the supersonic regime occurs at a much smaller distance from the star cluster center. The impact from the major star cluster parameters to the wind inner structure is thoroughly discussed. Particular attention is paid to the effects which radiative cooling provides to the flow. The results of the calculations for a set of input parameters, which lead to different hydrodynamic regimes, are presented and compared to the results from non-radiative 1D numerical simulations and to those from calculations with a homogeneous stellar mass distribution.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Supernovae and their expanding blast waves during the early evolution of Galactic globular clusters

Our arguments deal with the early evolution of Galactic globular clusters and show why only a few of the supernovae products were retained within globular clusters and only in the most massive cases ($M \ge 10^6$ Msol), while less massive clusters were not contaminated at all by supernovae. Here we show that supernova blast waves evolving in a steep density gradient undergo blowout and end up discharging their energy and metals into the medium surrounding the clusters. This inhibits the dispersal and the contamination of the gas left over from a first stellar generation. Only the ejecta from well centered supernovae, that evolve into a high density medium available for a second stellar generation in the most massive clusters would be retained. These are likely to mix their products with the remaining gas, leading in these cases eventually to an Fe contaminated second stellar generation.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, 10pages, 1 figur

On the hydrodynamics of the matter reinserted within superstellar clusters

We present semi-analytical and numerical models, accounting for the impact of radiative cooling on the hydrodynamics of the matter reinserted as strong stellar winds and supernovae within the volume occupied by young, massive and compact superstellar clusters. First of all we corroborate the location of the threshold line in the mechanical energy input rate vs the cluster size plane, found by Silich et al. (2004). Such a line separates clusters able to drive a quasi-adiabatic or a strongly radiative wind from clusters in which catastrophic cooling occurs within the star cluster volume. Then we show that the latter, clusters above the threshold line, undergo a bimodal behavior in which the central densest zones cool rapidly and accumulate the injected matter to eventually feed further generations of star formation, while the outer zones are still able to drive a stationary wind. The results are presented into a series of universal dimensionless diagrams from which one can infer: the size of the two zones, the fraction of the deposited mass that goes into each of them and the luminosity of the resultant winds, for clusters of all sizes and energy input rates, regardless the assumed adiabatic terminal speed V_A.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The realm of the Galactic globular clusters and the mass of their primordial clouds

By adopting the empirical constraints related to the estimates of Helium enhancement ($\Delta Y$), present mass ratio between first and second stellar generations ($M_{1G}/M_{2G}$) and the actual mass of Galactic globular clusters ($M_{GC}$), we envisage a possible scenario for the formation of these stellar systems. Our approach allows for the possible loss of stars through evaporation or tidal interactions and different star formation efficiencies. In our approach the star formation efficiency of the first generation ($\epsilon_{1G}$) is the central factor that links the stellar generations as it not only defines both the mass in stars of the first generation and the remaining mass available for further star formation, but it also fixes the amount of matter required to contaminate the second stellar generation. In this way, $\epsilon_{1G}$ is fully defined by the He enhancement between successive generations in a GC. We also show that globular clusters fit well within a $\Delta Y$ {\it vs} $M_{1G}/M_{2G}$ diagram which indicates three different evolutionary paths. The central one is for clusters that have not loss stars, through tidal interactions, from either of their stellar generations, and thus their present $M_{GC}$ value is identical to the amount of low mass stars ($M_* \le$ 1 M$_\odot$) that resulted from both stellar generations. Other possible evolutions imply either the loss of first generation stars or the combination of a low star formation efficiency in the second stellar generation and/or a loss of stars from the second generation. From these considerations we derive a lower limit to the mass ($M_{tot}$) of the individual primordial clouds that gave origin to globular clusters.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa