Pavel Kroupa has been studying star clusters since 30 years and is currently at the University of Bonn and at Charles University in Prague. He used star cluster data to constrain the initial mass function of stars and its variation with physical conditions of the star-forming gas clouds. Using Sverre Aarseth's Nbody codes he derived the initial distribution functions and properties of late-type binary systems with all stars forming as binaries in embedded star clusters that condense in molecular cloud clumps. Some of these form longer-lived open and globular clusters. Embedded star clusters are thus the fundamental building blocks of galaxies. Stellar populations in these arise from the addition of all the embedded clusters that form throughout their star-formation periods. This leads to a powerful method to calculate the properties of stellar populations in nearby and distant galaxies and is known as the IGIMF Theory. He has also shown that open star clusters are conclusive probes of gravitational theory. More details can be found here: https://astro.uni-bonn.de/~pavel/

Rainer Spurzem is a German astronomer at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut in Heidelberg, Germany. His speciality is the N-body simulation of galaxies and star clusters.

With Sverre Aarseth, he was the first to simulate core collapse of a star cluster using a direct N-body algorithm on a Cray supercomputer. More details can be found here: https://kiaa.pku.edu.cn/info/1011/2658.htm and papers here.

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