1996/10/10 by G. Meylan, D.C. Heggie, D. C. Heggie · 24 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s001590050008
published as Astron.Astrophys.Rev.8:1-143,1997 · A review of 171 pages (TeX, no special macros) in press in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. Only 7 figures available in postscript form
arxiv created 1996/10/10 · openalex publication_date 1997/02/01 · arxiv updated 2014/10/13 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Galactic globular clusters, which are ancient building blocks of our Galaxy, represent a very interesting family of stellar systems in which some fundamental dynamical processes have taken place on time scales shorter than the age of the universe. In contrast with galaxies, these clusters represent unique laboratories for learning about two-body relaxation, mass segregation from equipartition of energy, stellar collisions, stellar mergers, and core collapse. In the present review, we summarize the tremendous developments, as much theoretical as observational, that have taken place during the last two decades, and which have led to a quantum jump in our understanding of these beautiful dynamical systems.