Early Evolution of Stellar Clusters

Abstract

Observations have revealed that most stars are born in clusters. These systems, containing from tens to thousands of stars and typically significant mass in gas in the youngest systems, evolve due to a combination of stellar and star-gas interactions. Simulations of pure stellar systems are used to investigate possible initial configurations including ellipticity, substructure and mass segregation. Simulations of gas-rich clusters investigate the effects of accretion on the cluster dynamics and on the individual masses that result in a stellar mass spectrum. Further stellar interactions, including binary destruction and eventually cluster dissolution are also discussed.