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(Abridged) Interacting galaxies are well-known for their high star formation rates and rich star cluster populations, but the rapidly changing tidal field can also efficiently destroy clusters. We use numerical simulations of merging disc galaxies to investigate which mechanism dominates. The simulations include a model for the formation and dynamical disruption of the entire star cluster population. We find that the dynamical heating of clusters by tidal shocks is about an order of magnitude higher in interacting galaxies than in isolated galaxies. This is driven by the increased gas density, and is sufficient to destroy star clusters at a higher rate than new clusters are formed: the total number of clusters in the merger remnant is 2-50% of the amount in the progenitor discs, with low-mass clusters being disrupted preferentially. By adopting observationally motivated selection criteria, we find that the observed surplus of star clusters in nearby merging galaxies is caused by the bias to detect young, massive clusters. We provide a general expression for the survival fraction of clusters, which increases with the gas depletion time-scale. Due to the preferential disruption of low-mass clusters, the mass distribution of the surviving star clusters in a merger remnant develops a peak at a mass of about 10^3 Msun, which evolves to higher masses at a rate of 0.3-0.4 dex per Gyr. The peak mass initially depends weakly on the galactocentric radius, but this correlation disappears as the system ages. We discuss the similarities between the cluster populations of the simulated merger remnants and (young) globular cluster systems. Our results suggest that the combination of cluster formation and destruction should be widespread in the dense star-forming environments at high redshifts, which could provide a natural origin to present-day globular cluster systems.
This lecture reviews the fundamental physical processes involved in star formation in galaxy interactions and mergers. Interactions and mergers often drive intense starbursts, but the link between interstellar gas physics, large scale interactions, a
We present observations and dynamical models of the stellar nuclear clusters (NCs) at the centres of NGC 4244 and M33. We then compare these to an extensive set of simulations testing the importance of purely stellar dynamical mergers on the formatio
We use simulations with realistic models for stellar feedback to study galaxy mergers. These high resolution (1 pc) simulations follow formation and destruction of individual GMCs and star clusters. The final starburst is dominated by in situ star fo
An optical photometric observation with the Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut (BATC) multicolor system is carried out for A98 (z=0.104), a galaxy cluster with two large enhancements in X-ray surface brightness. The spectral energy distributions (SED
We examine whether the super star-forming clumps (R~1-3 kpc; M~10^8-10^9.5 Msun) now known to be a key component of star-forming galaxies at z~2 could be the formation sites of the locally observed old globular cluster population. We find that the st