The Numerical Tools for Star Cluster Formation Simulations

Stars form out of the collapse of cold, dark regions in GMCs within which the gravitational force can overcome the supportive effects provided by thermal pressure, magnetic fields and turbulent forces (so-called ‘supercritical regions’). The subsequent evolution of the dense self-gravitating gas from protostars to pre-main-sequence stars is driven by a combination of interactions between the star-disc system as well as dynamical evolution within the star cluster itself. This chapter introduces the reader to the main numerical techniques adopted in the study of star cluster simulations, primarily N-body, as well as grid-based and Lagrangian hydrodynamical codes. We begin by discussing the overly simplistic purely gravitational collapse scenario, before moving onto the inclusion of ‘additional physics’ such as magnetic fields as well as thermal and mechanical feedback in such codes.