Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter StarClusters

Tuesday, 08 September 2026, 16:30   (MW-2050)

Feedback in stellar clusters: Connecting individual winds with collective effects

Cormac Larkin, Jonathan Mackey, Thomas Haworth, Calum Hawcroft, Andreas Sander, Brian Reville, Thibault Vieu & the EWOCS Collaboration
ESO Garching, DIAS, QMUL, STScI, ZAH Uni Heidelberg & MPI Kernphysik

Young massive clusters (YMCs) inject metals and momentum into their surroundings through the winds and supernovae of the massive stars they host. It is thought that YMCs may be the progenitors of the globular clusters (GCs) that we observe today in our own and other galaxies. A key question in studies of GCs is the origin of their multiple stellar populations. One hypothesis is that later generations of stars form from material enriched by earlier generations of massive stars. Several models propose that the winds of hot massive stars provide this material, but this material would both need to be retained and cooled in order to contribute to subsequent star formation. Red Supergiants (RSGs), with their dense and slow winds, provide another avenue to introduce enriched wind material, without any external mechanism needed to slow the material or for it to cool. In this talk, I will present 3D hydrodynamic simulations of individual RSGs embedded in a cluster wind, to explore the fate of RSG winds and dusty clumps in clusters, as well as the mass loading of the cluster wind. I will also show larger-scale cluster simulations with individually resolved stellar winds, detailing how collective wind interactions differ between young, compact clusters and older, less dense associations. Finally, I will show pySTARBURST population synthesis models exploring how a YMC’s collective outflow evolves with cluster age and across cosmic time.