Estimation of the Number of Stellar Encounters on a Cross-sectional Area containing a Planetary Disk in Birth Clusters of Stars

Abstract

Abstract In this work, I estimate the number of close stellar encounters on a specific cross-sectional area that may contain a planetary disk in a crowded star formation cluster. The approximation employs Monte Carlo runs to estimate the most likely value of the number of encounters as a function of stellar densities from 1.6 × 105 to 6.2 × 105 pc−3, velocity dispersions from 0.7 to 1.5 km s−1, and the lifetime of a typical star formation environment. I found that the most likely number of encounters on cross-sectional areas with a radius of 400 au goes from one to three. Although, four encounters are also likely to happen. This means that multiple strong stellar could happen on planetary disks in the early epoch of the star formation clusters.