2007/05/07 by Thomas Maschberger, T. Maschberger, Pavel Kroupa +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Cluster (spacecraft) #Electrical and Electromagnetic Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Initial mass function #Intergalactic star #Population #Protogalaxy #Star cluster #Star formation #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11891.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.379:34-42,2007 · MNRAS: in press, 10 pages, 9 figures
arxiv created 2007/05/07 · openalex publication_date 2007/06/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Star formation happens in a clustered way which is why the star cluster population of a particular galaxy is closely related to the star formation history of this galaxy. From the probabilistic nature of a mass function follows that the mass of the most massive cluster of a complete population, Mmax, has a distribution with the total mass of the population as a parameter. The total mass of the population is connected to the star formation rate (SFR) by the length of a formation epoch. Since due to evolutionary effects only massive star clusters are observable up to high ages, it is convenient to use this Mmax(SFR) relation for the reconstruction of a star formation history. The age distribution of the most massive clusters can therefore be used to constrain the star formation history of a galaxy. The method, including an assessment of the inherent uncertainties, is introduced with this contribution, while following papers will apply this method to a number of galaxies.