Abstract
We present a direct N-body simulation modeling the evolution of the old (7 Gyr) open cluster NGC 188. This is the first N-body open cluster simulation whose initial binary population is directly defined by observations of a specific open cluster: M35 (150 Myr). We compare the simulated color-magnitude diagram at 7 Gyr to that of NGC 188, and discuss the blue stragglers produced in the simulation. We compare the solar-type main-sequence binary period and eccentricity distributions of the simulation to detailed observations of similar binaries in NGC 188. These results demonstrate the importance of detailed observations in guiding N-body open cluster simulations. Finally, we discuss the implications of a few discrepancies between the NGC 188 model and observations and suggest a few methods for bringing N-body open cluster simulations into better agreement with observations.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Star clusters |
| Subtitle of host publication | basic galactic building blocks throughout time and space |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Pages | 258-263 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Edition | S266 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780521764995 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2009 |
Publication series
| Name | Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union |
|---|---|
| Number | S266 |
| Volume | 5 |
| ISSN (Print) | 1743-9213 |
| ISSN (Electronic) | 1743-9221 |
Funding
This work was funded in part by a National Science Foundation (NSF) East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI) fellowship, the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium and NSF grant AST-0406615.
Keywords
- Binaries: spectroscopic
- Blue stragglers
- N-body simulations
- Open clusters and associations: individual (NGC 188)
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science