Using the hydrodynamic code ZEUS, we perform 2D simulations to determine the
fate of the gas ejected by massive stars within super star clusters. It turns
out that the outcome depends mainly on the mass and radius of the cluster. In
the case of less massive clusters, a hot high velocity (∼1000 km
s−1) stationary wind develops and the metals injected by supernovae are
dispersed to large distances from the cluster. On the other hand, the density
of the thermalized ejecta within massive and compact clusters is sufficiently
large as to immediately provoke the onset of thermal instabilities. These
deplete, particularly in the central densest regions, the pressure and the
pressure gradient required to establish a stationary wind, and instead the
thermally unstable parcels of gas are rapidly compressed, by a plethora of
re-pressurizing shocks, into compact high density condensations. Most of these
are unable to leave the cluster volume and thus accumulate to eventually feed
further generations of star formation.
The simulations cover an important fraction of the parameter-space, which
allows us to estimate the fraction of the reinserted gas which accumulates
within the cluster and the fraction that leaves the cluster as a function of
the cluster mechanical luminosity, the cluster size and heating efficiency.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 27 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl