Gravitational interactions between globular and open clusters: an introduction

Abstract

Historically, it has been assumed that globular and open clusters never interact. However, recent evidence suggests that: globular clusters passing through the disk may be able to perturb giant molecular clouds (GMCs) triggering formation of open clusters and some old open clusters may be linked to accreted globulars. Here, we further explore the existence of possible dynamical connections between globular and open clusters, and realize that the most obvious link must be in the form of gravitational interactions. If open clusters are born out of GMCs, they have to move in similar orbits. If we accept that globulars can interact with GMCs, triggering star formation, it follows that globular and open clusters must also interact. Consistently, theoretical arguments as well as observational evidence, show that globular and open clusters certainly are interacting populations and their interactions are far more common than usually thought, especially for objects part of the bulge/disk. Monte Carlo calculations confirm that conclusion. Globular clusters seem capable of not only inducing formation of open clusters but, more often, their demise. Relatively frequent high speed cluster encounters or cluster harassment may also cause, on the long-term, slow erosion and tidal truncation on the globulars involved. The disputed object FSR 1767 (2MASS-GC04) may be, statistically speaking, the best example of an ongoing interaction.

The dynamical fate of binary star clusters in the Galactic tidal field

“…Binary clusters in the Milky Way galaxy may have formed through a similar process, where globular clusters passing through the disk may be able to perturb giant molecular clouds (GMCs), triggering the formation of open clusters (de la Fuente Marcos et al 2014). The resulting population includes binary star clusters with bound (or unbound) orbits that can be oriented in any direction, depending on the motion of perturbing body.…”

Search for Possibly Evolutionary Linked Globular and Open Clusters

“…GCs may be involved not only in the formation of OSCs, but also in their destruction. De la Fuente Marcos et al [9] computed the parameters of mutual encounters between known Milky Way globular and open clusters. The record breaker turned out to be the pair consisting of the GC FSR 1767 (2MASS-GC04) and young OSC Ruprecht 127: their separation 22 million years ago was only 36 pc.…”

Open Science for Non-Specialists: Making Open Science Meaningful Beyond the Scientific Community

“…One of the significant limitations of the open science movement is that even though its proponents emphasize the goal of making information available to non-specialists, the major initiatives associated with the movement are not well designed for meaningfully achieving that goal (Elliott and Resnik 2019). As emphasized by a European Commission-funded research project called FOSTER Plus, the two open science initiatives that receive the most focus are open data (i.e., making the data underlying publications publicly available) and open access to scientific publications (i.e., making publications available without “paywalls” [de la Fuente, n.d.]). It is fairly obvious, however, that open data are of little use to most non-specialists because most people have very limited abilities to understand or make use of large, complex scientific databases.…”