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Paper   IPM / Astronomy / 18073
School of Astronomy
  Title:   The impact of a top-heavy IMF on the formation and evolution of dark star clusters
  Author(s): 
1.  A. Rostami Shirazi
2.  H. Haghi
3.  A. Hasani Zonoozi
4.  A. Farhani Asl
5.  P. Kroupa
  Status:   Published
  Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  Vol.:  531
  Year:  2024
  Supported by:  IPM
  Abstract:
The Spitzer instability leads to the formation of a black hole sub-system (BHSub) at the center of a star cluster providing energy to luminous stars (LSs) and increasing their rate of evaporation. When the self-depletion time of the BHSub exceeds the evaporation time of the LSs, a dark star cluster (DSC) will appear. Using the NBODY7 code, we performed a comprehensive set of direct \Nbody simulations over a wide range of initial conditions to study the pure effect of the top-heaviness of the IMF on the formation of the DSC phase. In the Galactic tidal field, top-heavy IMFs lead to the fast evaporation of LSs and the formation of DSCs. Therefore, DSCs can be present even in the outer region of the Milky Way (MW). To successfully transition to the DSC phase, the MW Globular Clusters (GCs) must possess an initial BH mass fraction of \widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)>0.05. For star clusters with \widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)>0.08, the DSC phase will be created for any given initial density of the cluster and Galactocentric distance. The duration of the cluster's lifetime spent in the DSC phase shows a negative (positive) correlation with the initial density, and Galactocentric distance of the star cluster if \widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)\leq 0.12 (\widetilde{\mathit{M}}_\mathrm{BH}(0)\geq 0.15). Considering the canonical IMF, it is unlikely for any MW GCs to enter the DSC phase. We discuss the BH retention fraction in view of the observed properties of the GCs of the MW.

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