The early evolution of dense stellar systems is governed by massive single star and binary evolution. Core collapse of dense massive star clusters can lead to the formation of very massive objects through stellar collisions (M≥ 1000M⊙). Stellar wind mass loss determines the evolution and final fate of these objects, and determines whether they form black holes (with stellar or intermediate mass) or explode as pair instability supernovae, leaving no remnant. We present a computationally inexpensive evolutionary scheme for very massive stars that can readily be implemented in an N-body code. Using our new N-body code ‘Youngbody’ which includes a detailed treatment of massive stars as well as this new scheme for very massive stars, we discuss the formation of intermediate mass and stellar mass black holes in young starburst regions. A more detailed account of these results can be found in Belkus, Van Bever & Vanbeveren (2007).

The high resolution observations (TRACE and SOHO) of waves in coronal structures have revealed a rapid damping of modes, sometimes their damping length being of the same order as their wavelength. The rapid damping of modes in coronal loops permits us to derive values for magnetic field and transport coefficients. In this contribution we study the damping of linear compressional waves considering a two-dimensional propagation in gravitationally stratified plasma in the presence of thermal conduction. By considering this 2D model, we show that the presence of an additional transversal motion has an important effect on the damping of the waves. This theoretical model allows as to conclude that the main effects influencing the damping of the waves are the degree of the transversal structuring and temperature.

The WIYN open cluster study (WOCS) has been working to yield precise optical (UBRVI) photometry for all stars in the field of a selection of “prototypical” open clusters. Additionally, WOCS has been using radial velocities to obtain orbit solutions for cluster member hard-binary stars (with period less than 1000 days). Recently, WOCS has been expanded to include the near-infrared (JHKs; 2MASS plus new deep ground-based) and mid-infrared ([3.6], [4.5], [5.8], [8.0] micron) photometry from Spitzer/IRAC observations. This multi-wavelength data (0.3–8.0 microns) allows us to identify binaries photometrically, with mass ratios from 1.0–0.3, across a wide range of primary masses. The spectral energy distribution (SED) fitter by Robitaille et al. (2007) is used to fit the fluxes of 10–12 bands to Kurucz stellar models. This technique allows us to explore the soft binary population for the first time. Using this photometric technique, we find that NGC 188 has a binary fraction of 36-49% and provide a star-by-star comparison to the WOCS radial velocity-based hard binary study.

One of the typical features shown by observations of solar prominence oscillations is that they are quickly damped in time by one or several not well-known mechanisms. In addition, recent high resolution observations have revealed that the prominence fine structures, called fibrils, can oscillate with their own periods, independently from the rest of the prominence. The main aim of the present work is to study the attenuation of oscillations supported by a single prominence fibril. We consider an equilibrium made of a prominence plasma Cartesian slab of finite width embedded in a coronal medium, and assume non-adiabatic effects (thermal conduction, radiation losses and heating) as damping mechanisms. The magnetic field is taken uniform and parallel to the slab axis. We find that the efficiency of the non-adiabatic effects as damping mechanisms is different for each magnetoacoustic mode. The obtained values of the damping time are compatible with those observed in the case of the slow modes, but the fast modes are much less attenuated.

Numerical solutions for the 3-body problem can be extremely sensitive to small errors. We consider how small errors in calculations can affect the lifetime of these systems. In particular, we show that numerical errors can shorten the average lifetime of a 3-body system. This is illustrated using the Sitnikov Problem as an example. To give a theoretical explanation, we construct an approximate Poincaré map for this problem and delineate the structure of the escape regions. We show that numerical errors can destroy escape regions and can cause orbits to migrate to a region in which escape is faster.

The extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) imagers onboard the planned Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Solar Orbiter (SO) will offer us the best chance yet of using observations of post-flare loop oscillations to probe the fine structure of the corona. Recently developed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave theory has shown that the properties of loop oscillations depend on their plasma fine structure. Up to this point, many studies have concentrated solely on the effect of plasma density stratification on coronal loop oscillations. In this paper we develop MHD wave theory which models the effect of an inhomogeneous magnetic field on coronal loop oscillations. The results have the potential to be used in testing the efficacy of photospheric magnetic field extrapolations and have important implications regarding magneto-seismology of the corona.

Since we cannot put stars in a laboratory, astrophysicists had to wait till the invention of computers before becoming laboratory scientists. For half a century now, we have been conducting experiments in our virtual laboratories. However, we ourselves have remained behind the keyboard, with the screen of the monitor separating us from the world we are simulating. Recently, 3D on-line technology, developed first for games but now deployed in virtual worlds like Second Life, is beginning to make it possible for astrophysicists to enter their virtual labs themselves, in virtual form as avatars. This has several advantages, from new possibilities to explore the results of the simulations to a shared presence in a virtual lab with remote collaborators on different continents. I will report my experiences with the use of Qwaq Forums, a virtual world developed by a new company (see http://www.qwaq.com).

The young resolved cluster NGC 346 in the SMC provides us with the opportunity to study the details of cluster formation and the efficiency of feedback mechanisms at low metallicity. I describe the latest results from a large-scale study of this cluster and its H II region N66. HST/ACS images reveal that NGC 346 is composed of a number of sub-clusters which appear to be coeval with ages of 3±1 Myr, strongly suggesting formation by the hierarchical fragmentation of a giant molecular cloud (Nota et al. 2006; Sabbi et al. 2007a). HST Hα images show that the central cluster and the sub-clusters still contain some of their residual gas. We present high resolution spectroscopy of the ionized gas, and find that it shows little evidence for gas motions. This suggests that, at the low SMC metallicity, the cluster O star winds are not powerful enough to sweep away the residual gas. Instead, we find that stellar radiation is the dominant process shaping the interstellar environment of NGC 346.

Multi-wavelength studies of energetic solar flares with seismic emissions have revealed interesting common features that may help us to identify the correlations of flare signatures from the inner to the outer solar atmosphere and, to develop diagnostic techniques to aid in the sun quake detection. In our study, we make use the relation between the microwave and the hard X-ray emissions associated with such flares to propose a scenario for the ignition of seismic transients from flares. We explore the mechanisms of energy transport to the photosphere, such us back-warming or direct particle impacts.

The evolution of stellar collision products in cluster simulations has usually been modelled using simplified prescriptions. Such prescriptions either replace the collision product with an (evolved) main sequence star, or assume that the collision product was completely mixed during the collision.

It is known from hydrodynamical simulations of stellar collisions that collision products are not completely mixed, however. We have calculated the evolution of stellar collision products and find that they are brighter than normal main sequence stars of the same mass, but not as blue as models that assume that the collision product was fully mixed during the collision.

The upward propagation of linear acoustic waves in a gravitationally stratified atmosphere is studied. The wave motion is governed by the Klein-Gordon equation which contains a cut-off frequency introduced by stratification. The acoustic cut-off may act as a potential barrier when the temperature decreases with height. It is shown that waves trapped below the barrier could be subject to a resonance which extends into the entire unbounded atmosphere. The parameter space characterizing the resonance is explored.

Three-body stability is fundamental to astrophysical processes on all length and mass scales from planetary systems to clusters of galaxies, so it is vital we have a deep and thorough understanding of this centuries-old problem. Here we summarize an analytical method for determining the stability of arbitrary three-body hierarchies which makes use of the chaos theory concept of resonance overlap. For the first time the dependence on all orbital elements and masses can be given explicitly via simple analytical expressions which contain no empirical parameters. For clarity and brevity, analysis in this paper is restricted to coplanar systems including a description of a practical algorithm for use in N-body and other applications. A Fortran routine for arbitrarily inclined systems is available from the author, and animations of stable and unstable systems are available at www.maths.monash.edu.au/~ro/Capri.

Blue stragglers stars (BSS) constitute an ubiquitous population of objects whose origin involves both dynamical and stellar evolution. We took advantage of the homogeneous sample of 56 Galactic globular clusters observed with WFPC2/HST by Piotto et al. (2002) to investigate the environmental dependence of the BSS formation mechanisms. We explore possible monovariate relations between the frequency of BSS (divided in different subsamples according to their location with respect to the parent cluster core radius and half mass radius) and the main parameters of their host GC. We also performed a Principal Component Analysis to extract the main parent cluster parameters which characterise the BSS family.

The evolution induced by dynamical friction on a spherical shell of rigid satellites interacting directly with the particles sampling the host elliptical galaxy is followed by means of N-body simulations for a variety of shell–galaxy configurations.

The aim of this work is to examine the hypothesis that the wave propagation time in the solar atmosphere can be used to infer the magnetic topography in the chromosphere as suggested by Finsterle et al. (2004). We do this by using an extension of our earlier 2-D MHD work on the interaction of acoustic waves with a flux sheet. It is well known that these waves undergo mode transformation due to the presence of a magnetic field which is particularly effective at the surface of equipartition between the magnetic and thermal energy density, the β = 1 surface. This transformation depends sensitively on the angle between the wave vector and the local field direction. At the β = 1 interface, the wave that enters the flux sheet, (essentially the fast mode) has a higher phase speed than the incident acoustic wave. A time correlation between wave motions in the non-magnetic and magnetic regions could therefore provide a powerful diagnostic for mapping the magnetic field in the chromospheric network.

The fraction of field OB stars that originate from clusters can help probe the dynamical evolution of clusters. Field stars represent a significant fraction (20-30%) of the OB population in galaxies, and estimates for the fraction of field OB stars that are runaways range from the classical value of <10% (Blaauw 1961) to contemporary results suggesting >90% (de Wit et al. 2005). We obtained Magellan IMACS observations on the kinematics of field OB stars in the SMC to examine the line-of-sight velocities of this population. Using these observations, we will estimate the fraction of runaways to serve as a probe of cluster evolution.

We study the excitation and damping of transverse oscillations in a complex multi-stranded model of a coronal loop. By numerically solving the time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in two dimensions, we show how the global motion of the whole bundle of tubes, produced by an external disturbance, is converted into localised motions due to the process of resonant absorption. At any location in the structure two dominant frequencies are found, the frequency of the global mode (different from the kink frequency of the individual strands) and the local Alfvén frequency. The mechanism of mode conversion is not affected by the complicated geometry of the system and for certain configurations the energy conversion does not only take place at the external edge of the composite loop but also inside the structure.

We performed N-body simulations of star clusters with primordial binaries using a new code, GORILLA. It is based on Makino and Aarseth (1992)'s integration scheme on GRAPE, and includes a special treatment for relatively isolated binaries. Using the new code, we investigated effects of hardness of primordial binaries on whole evolution of the clusters. We simulated seven N=16384 equal-mass clusters containing 10% (in mass) primordial binaries whose binding energies are 1, 3, 10, 30, 100, 300, and 1000kT, respectively. Additionally, we also simulated a cluster without primordial binaries and that in which all binaries are replaced by stars with double mass, as references of soft and hard limits, respectively. We found that, in both soft (≤ 3kT) and hard (≥ 1000kT) limits, clusters experiences deep core collapse and shows gravothermal oscillations. On the other hands, in the intermediate hardness (10-300kT), the core collapses halt halfway due an energy releases of the primordial binaries.

We outline the steps needed in to calibrate the Monte Carlo code in order to perform large scale simulations of real globular clusters. We calibrate the results against N-body simulations for N = 2500, 10000 and for the old open cluster M67. The calibration is done by choosing appropriate free code parameters.

In this paper we study non-axisymmetric oscillations of thin twisted magnetic tubes taking the density variation along the tube into account. We use the approximation of the zero-beta plasma. The magnetic field outside the tube is straight and homogeneous, however it is twisted inside the tube. We assume that the azimuthal component of the magnetic field is proportional to the distance from the tube axis, and that the tube is only weakly twisted, i.e. the ratio of the azimuthal and axial components of the magnetic field is small. Using the asymptotic analysis we show that the eigenmodes and eigenfrequencies of the kink and fluting oscillations are described by a classical Sturm-Liouville problem for a second order ordinary differential equation. The main result is that the twist does not affect the kink mode.