Mergers all the way down: stellar collisions and kinematics of a dense hierarchically forming massive star cluster in a dwarf starburst (2504.18620v1)

Abstract: Recent high-resolution observations indicate that the progenitors of globular clusters (GCs) at high redshifts had high average stellar surface densities above $10^5\, \mathrm{M}\odot\, \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$. Studies of the internal structure and kinematics of the clusters, however, remain out of reach. Numerical simulations are necessary to decipher the origin of the zoo of spatio-kinematic features found in present-day GCs. Here we study star cluster formation in a star-by-star hydrodynamical simulation of a low-metallicity starburst occurring during a merger of two gas-rich dwarf galaxies. The simulation accounts for the multiphase interstellar medium, stellar radiation, winds and supernovae, and the accurate small-scale gravitational dynamics near massive stars. We also include prescriptions for stellar collisions and tidal disruption events by black holes. Gravitationally bound star clusters up to $\sim2\times10^5\, \mathrm{M}\odot$ form dense with initial half-mass radii of $\sim0.1\unicode{x2013}1\, \mathrm{pc}$. The most massive cluster approaches the observed high-redshift surface densities throughout its hierarchical and dissipative assembly. The cluster also hosts a collisionally growing very massive star of $\sim1000\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ that will eventually collapse, forming an intermediate mass black hole. The assembly leaves an imprint in the spatio-kinematic structure of the cluster. The younger half of stars is more centrally concentrated, rotates faster, and its velocity distribution is more radially biased at outer radii. The older population is more round in shape, rotates slowly, its velocity distribution is isotropic and its velocity dispersion is higher. These results provide a possible explanation for a subset of multiple population features observed in GCs such as NGC 104/47 Tuc.