Description
Circumstellar disks are expected to evolve quickly in massive young clusters harboring many OB-type stars. Two processes have been proposed to drive the disk evolution in such cruel environments: (1) gravitational interaction between circumstellar disks and nearby passing stars (stellar encounters), and (2) photoevaporation by UV photons from massive stars. The relative importance of both mechanisms is not well understood. Studies of massive young star clusters can provide observational constraints on the processes of driving disk evolution. We investigate the properties of young stars and their disks in the NGC 6357 complex, concentrating on the most massive star cluster within the complex: Pismis 24.
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