Evolution of Globular Clusters Effects of Tidal Shocks.pdfVIP

Evolution of Globular Clusters: Effects of Tidal Shocks Oleg Y. Gnedin Jeremiah P. Ostriker Princeton University Observatory 7 ognedin@astro.princeton.edu, jpo@astro.princeton.edu 9 9 1 Abstract. The semi-analytic theory of tidal shocks proves to be a pow- v erful tool to study tidal interactions of star clusters and satellite galax- o ies with their massive hosts. New models of the globular cluster evolu- N tion employ a combination of analytic estimates, solutions of the Fokker- Planck equation and direct N-body simulations. The models predict large 6 2 destruction rates for the Galactic globular clusters. Those on the highly eccentric orbits around the Galactic center are much more likely to be 1 disrupted than the ones on nearly circular orbits. The destruction rates v are largely increased near the bulge. Disruption of the low-mass clusters 3 changes the Luminosity Function of the Globular Cluster System, shifting 1 3 the peak of the Luminosity Function to the brighter end. 1 1 7 9 / 1. Introduction h p- Dynamical evolution of globular clusters is strongly affected by gravitational o tidal shocks. When the clusters cross the disk of the Galaxy they experience disk r shocking; when the c