Description
The densities of young star-forming regions vary by several orders of magnitude, and it is currently unclear if this is the outcome of star formation, or a dynamical evolution effect. It is crucial that we investigate the long-term evolution of star-forming regions with a range of densities, as the density determines whether young stars (and their planetary systems) are much more likely to experience the detrimental effects of close encounters, and massive star stellar winds and supernovae. However, we don’t yet fully understand the effect of different densities on the long-term evolution, and dissolution, of these star-forming regions. Using N-body simulations of the first 100Myr of a star-forming region, we focus on the effect that density has on the evolution of star-forming regions and contrast this with the effect of changing the total stellar mass, initial degree of spatial and kinematic sub-structure, and the effects of an external tidal field. In this poster I will present the results of these simulations, particularly focussing on the effect that density has on the initial violent relaxation of a star-forming region and the clusters that form, and their final dissolution times.
