Description |
Globular clusters are the closest analogs to simple stellar systems and are found in large numbers in the halos of galaxies. They encode interesting information about the formation and evolutionary histories of their host galaxies. These extremely dense stellar systems are also prime locations for enhanced stellar dynamical interactions, which leads to the efficient formation of rare systems such as accreting neutron star and black hole X-ray binaries. A significant fraction of the compact mergers discovered by gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO may reside in globular clusters. I will talk about the observations of globular clusters and compact binary systems.
|