The dynamical evolution of stellar super - clusters

Recent images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) of the interacting disk galaxies NGC 4038/4039 (the Antennae) reveal clusters of many dozens and possibly hundreds of young compact massive star clusters within projected regions spanning about 100 to 500 pc. It is shown here that a large fraction of the individual star clusters merge within a few tens to a hundred Myr. Bound stellar systems with radii of a few hundred pc, masses < ∼ 10 9 M ⊙ and relaxation times of 10 11 − 10 12 yr may form from these. These spheroidal dwarf galaxies contain old stars from the pre-merger galaxy and much younger stars formed in the massive star clusters, and possibly from later gas-accretion events. The possibility that star formation in the outer regions of gas-rich tidal tails may also lead to super clusters is raised. The mass-to-light ratio of these objects is small, because they contain an insignificant amount of dark matter. After many hundred Myr such systems may resemble dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies with large apparent mass-to-light ratia, if tidal shaping is important.