Massive star cluster formation

II. Runaway stars as fossils of subcluster mergers

¹ Universität Heidelberg, Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Heidelberg, Germany
² Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
³ Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
⁴ Universität Heidelberg, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Heidelberg, Germany
⁵ Sterrewacht Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

^★★ Corresponding author; bpolak@amnh.org

Received: 17 May 2024
Accepted: 5 August 2024

Abstract

Two main mechanisms have classically been proposed for the formation of runaway stars. In the binary supernova scenario (BSS), a massive star in a binary explodes as a supernova, ejecting its companion. In the dynamical ejection scenario, a star is ejected during a strong dynamical encounter between multiple stars. We propose a third mechanism for the formation of runaway stars: the subcluster ejection scenario (SCES), where a subset of stars from an infalling subcluster is ejected out of the cluster via a tidal interaction with the contracting gravitational potential of the assembling cluster. We demonstrate the SCES in a star-by-star simulation of the formation of a young massive cluster from a 10⁶ M_⊙ gas cloud using the TORCH framework. This star cluster forms hierarchically through a sequence of subcluster mergers determined by the initial turbulent, spherical conditions of the gas. We find that these mergers drive the formation of runaway stars in our model. Late-forming subclusters fall into the central potential, where they are tidally disrupted, forming tidal tails of runaway stars that are distributed highly anisotropically. Runaways formed in the same SCES have similar ages, velocities, and ejection directions. Surveying observations, we identify several SCES candidate groups with anisotropic ejection directions. The SCES is capable of producing runaway binaries: two wide dynamical binaries in infalling subclusters were tightened through ejection. This allows for another velocity kick via subsequent via a subsequent BSS ejection. An SCES-BSS ejection is a possible avenue for the creation of hypervelocity stars unbound to the Galaxy. The SCES occurs when subcluster formation is resolved. We expect nonspherical initial gas distributions to increase the number of calculated runaway stars, bringing it closer to observed values. The observation of groups of runaway stars formed via the SCES can thus reveal the assembly history of their natal clusters.