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M. B. N. Kouwenhoven

Publications and source records attributed to M. B. N. Kouwenhoven.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2016

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

Fragmentation and fission of giant molecular clouds occasionally results in a pair of gravitationally bound star clusters that orbit their mutual centre of mass for some time, under the influence of internal and external perturbations. We investigate the evolution of binary star clusters with different orbital configurations, with a particular focus on the Galactic tidal field. We carry out $N$-body simulations of evolving binary star clusters and compare our results with estimates from our semi-analytic model. The latter accounts for mass loss due to stellar evolution and two-body relaxation, and for evolution due to external tides. Using the semi-analytic model we predict the long-term evolution for a wide range of initial conditions. It accurately describes the global evolution of such systems, until the moment when a cluster merger is imminent. $N$-body simulations are used to test our semi-analytic model and also to study additional features of evolving binary clusters, such as the kinematics of stars, global cluster rotation, evaporation rates, and the cluster merger process. We find that the initial orientation of a binary star cluster with respect to the Galactic field, and also the initial orbital phase, are crucial for its fate. Depending on these properties, the binaries may experience orbital reversal, spiral-in, or vertical oscillation about the Galactic plane before they actually merge at $t\approx100$~Myr, and produce rotating star clusters with slightly higher evaporation rates. The merger process of a binary cluster induces an outburst that ejects $\sim10\%$ of the stellar members into the Galactic field.

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arXiv2015

The dynamical fate of planetary systems in young star clusters

We carry out N-body simulations to examine the effects of dynamical interactions on planetary systems in young open star clusters. We explore how the planetary populations in these star clusters evolve, and how this evolution depends on the initial amount of substructure, the virial ratio, the cluster mass and density, and the initial semi-major axis of the planetary systems. The fraction of planetary systems that remains intact as a cluster member, fbps, is generally well-described by the functional form fbps=f0(1+[a/a0]^c)^-1, where (1-f0) is the fraction of stars that escapes from the cluster, a0 the critical semi-major axis for survival, and c a measure for the width of the transition region. The effect of the initial amount of substructure over time can be quantified as fbps=A(t)+B(D), where A(t) decreases nearly linearly with time, and B(D) decreases when the clusters are initially more substructured. Provided that the orbital separation of planetary systems is smaller than the critical value a0, those in clusters with a higher initial stellar density (but identical mass) have a larger probability of escaping the cluster intact. These results help us to obtain a better understanding of the difference between the observed fractions of exoplanets-hosting stars in star clusters and in the Galactic field. It also allows us to make predictions about the free-floating planet population over time in different stellar environments.

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arXiv2015

Block Time Step Storage Scheme for Astrophysical N-body Simulations

Astrophysical research in recent decades has made significant progress thanks to the availability of various $N$-body simulation techniques. With the rapid development of high-performance computing technologies, modern simulations have been able to take the computing power of massively parallel clusters with more than $10^5$ GPU cores. While unprecedented accuracy and dynamical scales have been achieved, the enormous amount of data being generated continuously poses great challenges for the subsequent procedures of data analysis and archiving. As an urgent response to these challenges, in this paper we propose an adaptive storage scheme for simulation data, inspired by the block time step integration scheme found in a number of direct $N$-body integrators available nowadays. The proposed scheme, namely the block time step storage scheme, works by minimizing the data redundancy with assignments of data with individual output frequencies as required by the researcher. As demonstrated by benchmarks, the proposed scheme is applicable to a wide variety of simulations. Despite the main focus of developing a solution for direct $N$-body simulation data, the methodology is transferable for grid-based or tree-based simulations where hierarchical time stepping is used.

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arXiv2015

The dynamical evolution of low-mass hydrogen-burning stars, brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects formed through disc fragmentation

Theory and simulations suggest that it is possible to form low-mass hydrogen-burning stars, brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects via disc fragmentation. As disc fragmentation results in the formation of several bodies at comparable distances to the host star, their orbits are generally unstable. Here, we study the dynamical evolution of these objects. We set up the initial conditions based on the outcomes of the SPH simulations of Stamatellos & Whitworth, and for comparison we also study the evolution of systems resulting from lower-mass fragmenting discs. We refer to these two sets of simulations as set 1 and set 2. At 10 Myr, approximately half of the host stars have one companion left, and approximately 22% (set 1) to 9.8% (set 2) of the host stars are single. Systems with multiple secondaries in relatively stable configurations are common (about 30% and 44%, respectively). The majority of the companions are ejected within 1 Myr with velocities mostly below 5 km/s, with some runaway escapers with velocities over 30 km/s. About 6% (set 1) and 2% (set 2) of the companions pair up into very low-mass binary systems. The majority of these pairs escape as very low-mass binaries, while others remain bound to the host star in hierarchical configurations (often with retrograde inner orbits). Physical collisions with the host star (0.43 and 0.18 events per host star for set 1 and set 2) and between companions (0.08 and 0.04 events per host star for set 1 and set 2) are relatively common and their frequency increases with increasing disc mass. Our study predicts observable properties of very low-mass binaries, low-mass hierarchical systems, the brown dwarf desert, and free-floating brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects in and near young stellar groupings, which can be used to distinguish between different formation scenarios of very low-mass stars, brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects.

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arXiv2015

NBODY6++GPU: Ready for the gravitational million-body problem

Accurate direct $N$-body simulations help to obtain detailed information about the dynamical evolution of star clusters. They also enable comparisons with analytical models and Fokker-Planck or Monte-Carlo methods. NBODY6 is a well-known direct $N$-body code for star clusters, and NBODY6++ is the extended version designed for large particle number simulations by supercomputers. We present NBODY6++GPU, an optimized version of NBODY6++ with hybrid parallelization methods (MPI, GPU, OpenMP, and AVX/SSE) to accelerate large direct $N$-body simulations, and in particular to solve the million-body problem. We discuss the new features of the NBODY6++GPU code, benchmarks, as well as the first results from a simulation of a realistic globular cluster initially containing a million particles. For million-body simulations, NBODY6++GPU is $400-2000$ times faster than NBODY6 with 320 CPU cores and 32 NVIDIA K20X GPUs. With this computing cluster specification, the simulations of million-body globular clusters including $5\%$ primordial binaries require about an hour per half-mass crossing time.

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arXiv2015

Close encounters involving free-floating planets in star clusters

Instabilities in planetary systems can result in the ejection of planets from their host system, resulting in free-floating planets (FFPs). If this occurs in a star cluster, the FFP may remain bound to the star cluster for some time and interact with the other cluster members until it is ejected. Here, we use $N$-body simulations to characterise close star-planet and planet-planet encounters and the dynamical fate of the FFP population in star clusters containing $500-2000$ single or binary star members. We find that FFPs ejected from their planetary system at low velocities typically leave the star cluster 40% earlier than their host stars, and experience tens of close ($<1000$ AU) encounters with other stars and planets before they escape. The fraction of FFPs that experiences a close encounter depends on both the stellar density and the initial velocity distribution of the FFPs. Approximately half of the close encounters occur within the first 30 Myr, and only 10% occur after 100 Myr. The periastron velocity distribution for all encounters is well-described by a modified Maxwell-Bolzmann distribution, and the periastron distance distribution is linear over almost the entire range of distances considered, and flattens off for very close encounters due to strong gravitational focusing. Close encounters with FFPs can perturb existing planetary systems and their debris structures, and they can result in re-capture of FFPs. In addition, these FFP populations may be observed in young star clusters in imaging surveys; a comparison between observations and dynamical predictions may provide clues to the early phases of stellar and planetary dynamics in star clusters.

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arXiv2015

Planetary Systems in Star Clusters

In the solar neighborhood, where the typical relaxation timescale is larger than the cosmic age, at least 10\% to 15\% of Sun-like stars have planetary systems with Jupiter-mass planets. In contrast, dense star clusters, charactered by frequent close encounters, have been found to host very few planets. We carry out numerical simulations with different initial conditions to investigate the dynamical stability of planetary systems in star cluster environments.

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arXiv2014

How does a low-mass cut-off in the stellar IMF affect the evolution of young star clusters?

We investigate how different stellar initial mass functions (IMFs) can affect the mass loss and survival of star clusters. We find that IMFs with radically different low-mass cut-offs (between 0.1 and 2 Msun) do not change cluster destruction time-scales as much as might be expected. Unsurprisingly, we find that clusters with more high-mass stars lose relatively more mass through stellar evolution, but the response to this mass loss is to expand and hence significantly slow their dynamical evolution. We also argue that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to have clusters with different IMFs that are initially "the same", since the mass, radius and relaxation times depend on each other and on the IMF in a complex way. We conclude that changing the IMF to be biased towards more massive stars does speed up mass loss and dissolution, but that it is not as dramatic as might be thought.

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arXiv2014

Spitzer Mid-IR Spectroscopy of Powerful 2Jy and 3CRR Radio Galaxies. II. AGN Power Indicators and Unification

It remains uncertain which continuum and emission line diagnostics best indicate the bolometric powers of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), especially given the attenuation caused by the circumnuclear material and the possible contamination by components related to star formation. Here we use mid-IR spectra along with multiwavelength data to investigate the merit of various diagnostics of AGN radiative power, including the mid-IR [Ne III] lambda25.89 mum and [O IV] lambda25.89 mum fine-structure lines, the optical [O III] lambda5007 forbidden line, and mid-IR 24 mum, 5 GHz radio, and X-ray continuum emission, for complete samples of 46 2Jy radio galaxies (0.05 < z < 0.7) and 17 3CRR FRII radio galaxies (z < 0.1). We find that the mid-IR [O IV] line is the most reliable indicator of AGN power for powerful radio-loud AGNs. By assuming that the [O IV] is emitted isotropically, and comparing the [O III] and 24 mum luminosities of the broad- and narrow-line AGNs in our samples at fixed [O IV] luminosity, we show that the [O III] and 24 mum emission are both mildly attenuated in the narrow-line compared to the broad-line objects by a factor of #2. However, despite this attenuation, the [O III] and 24 mum luminosities are better AGN power indicators for our sample than either the 5 GHz radio or the X-ray continuum luminosities. We also detect the mid-IR 9.7 mum silicate feature in the spectra of many objects but not ubiquitously: at least 40% of the sample shows no clear evidence for these features. We conclude that, for the majority of powerful radio galaxies, the mid-IR lines are powered by AGN photoionization.

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arXiv2013

The Link Between Ejected Stars, Hardening and Eccentricity Growth of Super Massive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei

The hierarchical galaxy formation picture suggests that super massive black holes (MBHs) observed in galactic nuclei today have grown from coalescence of massive black hole binaries (MBHB) after galaxy merging. Once the components of a MBHB become gravitationally bound, strong three-body encounters between the MBHB and stars dominate its evolution in a "dry" gas free environment, and change the MBHB's energy and angular momentum (semi-major axis, eccentricity and orientation). Here we present high accuracy direct N-body simulations of spherical and axisymmetric (rotating) galactic nuclei with order a million stars and two massive black holes that are initially unbound. We analyze the properties of the ejected stars due to slingshot effects from three-body encounters with the MBHB in detail. Previous studies have investigated the eccentricity and energy changes of MBHs using approximate models or Monte-Carlo three body scatterings. We find general agreement with the average results of previous semi-analytic models for spherical galactic nuclei, but our results show a large statistical variation. Our new results show many more phase space details of how the process works, and also show the influence of stellar system rotation on the process. We detect that the angle between the orbital plane of the MBHBs and that of the stellar system (when it rotates) influences the phase-space properties of the ejected stars. We also find that massive MBHB tend to switch stars with counter-rotating orbits into co-rotating orbits during their interactions.

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arXiv2013

The dynamical evolution of multi-planet systems in open clusters

The majority of stars form in star clusters and many are thought to have planetary companions. We demonstrate that multi-planet systems are prone to instabilities as a result of frequent stellar encounters in these star clusters much more than single-planet systems. The cumulative effect of close and distant encounters on these planetary systems are investigated using Monte Carlo scattering experiments. We consider two types of planetary configurations orbiting Sun-like stars: (i) five Jupiter-mass planets in the semi-major axis range 1-42 AU orbiting a Solar mass star, with orbits that are initially co-planar, circular, and separated by 10 mutual Hill radii, and (ii) the four gas giants of our Solar system. Planets with short orbital periods are not directly affected by encountering stars. However, secular evolution of perturbed systems may result in the ejection of the innermost planets or in physical collisions of the innermost planets with the host star, up to many thousands of years after a stellar encounter. The simulations of the Solar system-like systems indicate that Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are affected by both direct interactions with encountering stars, as well as planet-planet scattering. Jupiter, on the other hand, is almost only affected by direct encounters with neighbouring stars, as its mass is too large to be substantially perturbed by the other three planets. Our results indicate that stellar encounters can account for the apparent scarcity of exoplanets in star clusters, not only for those on wide-orbit that are directly affected by stellar encounters, but also planets close to the star which can disappear long after a stellar encounter has perturbed the planetary system.

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arXiv2013

Gravitational conundrum? Dynamical mass segregation versus disruption of binary stars in dense stellar systems

Upon their formation, dynamically cool (collapsing) star clusters will, within only a few million years, achieve stellar mass segregation for stars down to a few solar masses, simply because of gravitational two-body encounters. Since binary systems are, on average, more massive than single stars, one would expect them to also rapidly mass segregate dynamically. Contrary to these expectations and based on high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations, we show that the compact, 15-30 Myr-old Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 1818 exhibits tantalizing hints at the >= 2 sigma level of significance (> 3 sigma if we assume a power-law secondary-to-primary mass-ratio distribution) of an increasing fraction of F-star binary systems (with combined masses of 1.3-1.6 Msun) with increasing distance from the cluster center, specifically between the inner 10 to 20" (approximately equivalent to the cluster's core and half-mass radii) and the outer 60 to 80". If confirmed, this will offer support of the theoretically predicted but thus far unobserved dynamical disruption processes of the significant population of 'soft' binary systems---with relatively low binding energies compared to the kinetic energy of their stellar members---in star clusters, which we have access to here by virtue of the cluster's unique combination of youth and high stellar density.

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arXiv2012

On the origin of planets at very wide orbits from the re-capture of free floating planets

In recent years several planets have been discovered at wide orbits (>100 AU) around their host stars. Theoretical studies encounter difficulties in explaining their formation and origin. Here we propose a novel scenario for the production of planetary systems at such orbits, through the dynamical recapture of free floating planets (FFPs) in dispersing stellar clusters. This process is a natural extension of the recently suggested scenario for the formation of wide stellar binaries. We use N-body simulations of dispersing clusters with 10-1000 stars and comparable numbers of FFPs to study this process. We find that planets are captured into wide orbits in the typical range ~100-10^6 AU, and have a wide range of eccentricities (thermal distribution). Typically, 3-6 x (f_FFP/1) % of all stars capture a planetary companion with such properties (where f_FFP is the number of FFP per star). The planetary capture efficiency is comparable to that of capture-formed stellar-binaries, and shows a similar dependence on the cluster size and structure. It is almost independent of the specific planetary mass; planets as well as sub-stellar companions of any mass can be captured. The capture efficiency decreases with increasing cluster size, and for a given cluster size the it increases with the host/primary mass. More than one planet can be captured around the same host and planets can be captured into binary systems. Planets can also be captured into pre-existing planetary and into orbits around black holes and massive white dwarfs, if these formed early enough before the cluster dispersal. In particular, stellar black holes have a high capture efficiency (>50 % and 5-10 x (f_FFP/1) % for capture of stars and planetary companions, respectively) due to their large mass. Finally, although rare, two FFPs or brown dwarfs can become bound and form a FFP-binary system with no stellar host.

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arXiv2011

The Helium Abundance in the Ejecta of U Scorpii

U Scorpii is a recurrent nova which has been observed in outburst on 10 occasions, most recently in 2010. We present near-infrared and optical spectroscopy of the 2010 outburst of U Sco. The reddening of U Sco is found to be $E(B-V) = 0.14\pm0.12$, consistent with previous determinations, from simultaneous optical and near-IR observations. The spectra show the evolution of the line widths and profiles to be consistent with previous outbursts. Velocities are found to be up to 14000\,kms$^{-1}$ in broad components and up to 1800\,kms$^{-1}$ in narrow line components, which become visible around day 8 due to changes in the optical depth. From the spectra we derive a helium abundance of $N$(He)/$N$(H)$ = 0.073\pm0.031$ from the most reliable lines available; this is lower than most other estimates and indicates that the secondary is not helium-rich, as previous studies have suggested.

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arXiv2011

The origin of very wide binary stars

A large population of fragile, wide (> 1000 AU) binary systems exists in the Galactic field and halo. These wide binary stars cannot be primordial because of the high stellar density in star forming regions, while formation by capture in the Galactic field is highly improbable. We propose that these binary systems were formed during the dissolution phase of star clusters (see Kouwenhoven et al. 2010, for details). Stars escaping from a dissolving star cluster can have very similar velocities, which can lead to the formation of a wide binary systems. We carry out N-body simulations to test this hypothesis. The results indicate that this mechanism explains the origin of wide binary systems in the Galaxy. The resulting wide binary fraction and semi-major axis distribution depend on the initial conditions of the dissolving star cluster, while the distributions in eccentricity and mass ratio are universal. Finally, since most stars are formed in (relatively tight) primordial binaries, we predict that a large fraction of the wide "binary stars" are in fact higher-order multiple systems.

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arXiv2010

Sequential Star Formation in RCW 34: A Spectroscopic Census of the Stellar Content of High-mass Star-forming Regions

We present VLT/SINFONI integral field spectroscopy of RCW 34 along with Spitzer/IRAC photometry of the surroundings. RCW 34 consists of three different regions. A large bubble has been detected on the IRAC images in which a cluster of intermediate- and low-mass class II objects is found. At the northern edge of this bubble, an HII region is located, ionized by 3 OB stars. Intermediate mass stars (2 - 3 Msun) are detected of G- and K- spectral type. These stars are still in the pre-main sequence (PMS) phase. North of the HII region, a photon-dominated region is present, marking the edge of a dense molecular cloud traced by H2 emission. Several class 0/I objects are associated with this cloud, indicating that star formation is still taking place. The distance to RCW 34 is revised to 2.5 +- 0.2 kpc and an age estimate of 2 - 1 Myrs is derived from the properties of the PMS stars inside the HII region. The most likely scenario for the formation of the three regions is that star formation propagates from South to North. First the bubble is formed, produced by intermediate- and low-mass stars only, after that, the HII region is formed from a dense core at the edge of the molecular cloud, resulting in the expansion as a champagne flow. More recently, star formation occurred in the rest of the molecular cloud. Two different formation scenarios are possible: (a) The bubble with the cluster of low- and intermediate mass stars triggered the formation of the O star at the edge of the molecular cloud which in turn induces the current star-formation in the molecular cloud. (b) An external triggering is responsible for the star-formation propagating from South to North. [abridged]

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arXiv2010

The formation of very wide binaries during the star cluster dissolution phase

Over the past few decades, numerous wide (>1000 au) binaries in the Galactic field and halo have been discovered. Their existence cannot be explained by the process of star formation or by dynamical interactions in the field, and their origin has long been a mystery. We explain the origin of these wide binaries by formation during the dissolution phase of young star clusters: an initially unbound pair of stars may form a binary when their distance in phase-space is small. Using N-body simulations, we find that the resulting wide binary fraction in the semi-major axis range 1000 au - 0.1 pc for individual clusters is 1-30%, depending on the initial conditions. The existence of numerous wide binaries in the field is consistent with observational evidence that most clusters start out with a large degree of substructure. The wide binary fraction decreases strongly with increasing cluster mass, and the semi-major axis of the newly formed binaries is determined by the initial cluster size. The resulting eccentricity distribution is thermal, and the mass ratio distribution is consistent with gravitationally-focused random pairing. As a large fraction of the stars form in primordial binaries, we predict that a large number of the observed 'wide binaries' are in fact triple or quadruple systems. By integrating over the initial cluster mass distribution, we predict a binary fraction of a few per cent in the semi-major axis range 1000 au - 0.1 pc in the Galactic field, which is smaller than the observed wide binary fraction. However, this discrepancy may be solved when we consider a broad range of cluster morphologies.

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