Speaker Name:
Ivan King
Speaker Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, University of Washington
Talk Subject:
Dynamical Modelling of Globular Clusters
Date:
06/17/2004 - 14:00
Globular clusters are spherical stellar systems that maintain an equilibrium between stellar velocities and mutual gravitational attraction. This lecture will go from the mere statement of this balance, in the virial theorem, to consideration of how velocity distributions and density distributions achieve equilibrium with each other. Gravitational encounters between pairs of stars then drive a cluster toward a particular velocity distribution, which leads in turn to a family of dynamical models that closely resemble the observed density distribution in clusters.