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The last fifteen years have seen the discovery of new types of low-mass stellar systems that bridge the gap between the once well-separated regimes of galaxies and of star clusters. Whether such objects are considered galaxies depends also on the definition of the term galaxy, and several possible criteria are based on their internal dynamics (e.g. the common concept that galaxies contain dark matter). Moreover, studying the internal dynamics of low-mass stellar systems may also help understand their origin and evolutionary history. The focus of this paper is on two classes of stellar systems at the interface between star clusters and dwarf galaxies: ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) and diffuse Galactic globular clusters (GCs). A review of our current knowledge on the properties of UCDs is provided and dynamical considerations applying to diffuse GCs are introduced. In the following, recent observational results on the internal dynamics of individual UCDs and diffuse Galactic globular clusters are presented.
One of the fundamental tasks of dynamical astronomy is to infer the distribution of mass in a stellar system from a snapshot of the positions and velocities of its stars. The usual approach to this task (e.g., Schwarzschilds method) involves fitting
Stellar fundamental properties (masses, radii, effective temperatures) can be extracted from observations of eclipsing binary systems with remarkable precision, often better than 2%. Such precise measurements afford us the opportunity to confront the
Most globular clusters have half-mass radii of a few pc with no apparent correlation with their masses. This is different from elliptical galaxies, for which the Faber-Jackson relation suggests a strong positive correlation between mass and radius. O
We analyse the stellar kinematics of the z=0.169 brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in Abell 1201, using integral field observations with VLT/MUSE. This galaxy has a gravitationally-lensed arc located at unusually small radius ($sim$5 kpc), allowing us t
We study the effects of black hole dark matter on the dynamical evolution of stars in dwarf galaxies. We find that mass segregation leads to a depletion of stars in the center of dwarf galaxies and the appearance of a ring in the projected stellar su