In this chapter I review the effects of supernovae explosions on the
dynamical evolution of (1) binary stars and (2) star clusters.
(1) Supernovae in binaries can drastically alter the orbit of the system,
sometimes disrupting it entirely, and are thought to be partially responsible
for `runaway' massive stars - stars in the Galaxy with large peculiar
velocities. The ejection of the lower-mass secondary component of a binary
occurs often in the event of the more massive primary star exploding as a
supernova. The orbital properties of binaries that contain massive stars mean
that the observed velocities of runaway stars (10s - 100s km s−1) are
consistent with this scenario.
(2) Star formation is an inherently inefficient process, and much of the
potential in young star clusters remains in the form of gas. Supernovae can in
principle expel this gas, which would drastically alter the dynamics of the
cluster by unbinding the stars from the potential. However, recent numerical
simulations, and observational evidence that gas-free clusters are observed to
be bound, suggest that the effects of supernova explosions on the dynamics of
star clusters are likely to be minimal.Comment: 16 pages, to appear in the 'Handbook of Supernovae', eds. Paul Murdin
and Athem Alsabti. This version replaces an earlier version that contained
several typo
