Splinter Meeting Star Clusters:
Star Clusters as multi-messenger Candles in the universe
During AG2026 - Building Blocks of Cosmic Structure
Annual Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 2026
Time: Tuesday September 08, 14:00-15:30 and 16:00-17:30 CEST (UTC+2)
Contact: Rainer Spurzem, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Room: MW-2050
Convenor(s): Rainer Spurzem, Stefanie Walch-Gassner, Ralf Klessen, Thorsten Naab, option to add one or two more
Uni Heidelberg, Uni Cologne, MPA Garching
Star Clusters as multi-messenger Candles in the universe Old globular clusters in the Milky Way and the Local Group have been intensively studied for decades and some may have their origins Little Red Dots observed by James Webb Space Telescope. Between these extremes star clusters are ubiquitous across cosmic time - formed in dense molecular clouds, existing as nuclear star clusters in galactic centers, in galaxy disks and halos. They are sources of electromagnetic and gravitational waves across a large range of wavelengths (such as e.g. electromagnetic radio, X-ray, through IR to UV, X-ray, gamma ray emissions). The role of turbulence and magnetic fields for their formation at different cosmic times and metallicities is a current timely topic. Young star clusters are an important source for feedback in molecular clouds, star clusters are populating disks and haloes through their gradual dissolution and may even be remnants of former dwarf galaxies. Modelling and observation of their evolution is as well a challenge for computational astrophysics. Some possible topics we intend to discuss in our splinter meeting: (i) the long-term evolution of isolated and nuclear star clusters - explaining their present-day structure using numerical simulations; interactions with central massive black holes. (ii) star clusters as possible objects hosting the first stars (Population III); (iii) young star clusters providing feedback in molecular clouds; (iv) star clusters as tracers of galaxy formation and evolution, in cosmological structure formation simulations as well as in the local universe; (v) the connection with observational data concerning dynamics, stellar evolution, very massive stars, stellar populations, binary and multiple star systems, compact objects, planets, and other small bodies; (vi) observational perspectives across all redshift ranges, which can also guide the development of more advanced numerical models; (vii) future directions, especially the search for pulsars as radio sources and gravitational wave sources (IMBH and stellar mass BHs), using data and predicting observations from ground and space based instruments.
Program
Tuesday September 08, 14:00-15:30 Star Clusters as multi-messenger Candles in the universe (MW-2050)
Tuesday September 08, 16:00-17:30 Star Clusters as multi-messenger Candles in the universe (MW-2050)