Kavli Affiliate: Rainer Spurzem
| First 5 Authors: Francesco Flammini Dotti, M. B. N. Kouwenhoven, Peter Berczik, Qi Shu, Rainer Spurzem
| Summary:
Context. Low-mass bodies, such as comets, asteroids, planetesimals, and
free-floating planets, are continuously injected into the intra-cluster
environment after expulsion from their host planetary systems. These can be
modeled as massless particles (MLPs, hereafter). The dynamics of large
populations of MLPs, however, has yet received little attention in literature.
Aims. We investigate the dynamical evolution of MLP populations in star
clusters, and characterize their kinematics and ejection rates. Methods. We
present NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS, a modified version of the N-body simulation code
NBODY6++GPU, that allows fast integration of star clusters that contain large
numbers of massless particles (MLPs). NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS contains routines
specifically directed at the dynamical evolution of low-mass bodies, such as
planets. Results. Unlike stars, MLPs do not participate in the mass segregation
process. Instead, MLPs mostly follow the gravitational potential of the star
cluster, which gradually decreases over time due to stellar ejections and
stellar evolution. The dynamical evolution of MLPs is primarily affected by the
evolution of the core of the star cluster. This is most apparent in the outer
regions for clusters with higher initial densities. High escape rates of MLPs
are observed before the core-collapse, after which escape rates remain stable.
Denser star clusters undergo a more intense core collapse, but this does not
impact the dynamical evolution of MLPs. The speeds of escaping stars are
similar to those of escaping MLPs, when disregarding the high-velocity
ejections of neutron stars during the first 50 Myr.
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