A machine learning framework to generate star cluster realisations

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy
² IASF Milano, via Alfonso Corti 12, Milano, Italy
³ Ciela – Montreal Institute for Astrophysical Data Analysis and Machine Learning, Montréal, Canada
⁴ INFN – Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁵ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, Padova, Italy
⁶ Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, ZAH, Universität Heidelberg, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁷ SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, via Bonomea 365, 34136 Trieste, Italy
⁸ Faculty of Sciences, University of Craiova, A.I. Cuza 13, 200585 Craiova, Romania

^★ Corresponding author; prodangp9@gmail.com

Received: 5 June 2024
Accepted: 4 September 2024

Abstract

Context. Computational astronomy has reached the stage where running a gravitational N-body simulation of a stellar system, such as a Milky Way star cluster, is computationally feasible, but a major limiting factor that remains is the ability to set up physically realistic initial conditions.

Aims. We aim to obtain realistic initial conditions for N-body simulations by taking advantage of machine learning, with emphasis on reproducing small-scale interstellar distance distributions.

Methods. The computational bottleneck for obtaining such distance distributions is the hydrodynamics of star formation, which ultimately determine the features of the stars, including positions, velocities, and masses. To mitigate this issue, we introduce a new method for sampling physically realistic initial conditions from a limited set of simulations using Gaussian processes.

Results. We evaluated the resulting sets of initial conditions based on whether they meet tests for physical realism. We find that direct sampling based on the learned distribution of the star features fails to reproduce binary systems. Consequently, we show that physics-informed sampling algorithms solve this issue, as they are capable of generating realisations closer to reality.