Long-term evolution of isolated N-body systems

We report results of N-body simulations of isolated star clusters, performed up to the point where the clusters are nearly completely dissolved. Our main focus is on the post-collapse evolution of these clusters. We find that, after core collapse, isolated clusters evolve along nearly a single sequence of models, the properties of which are independent of the initial density profile and particle number. Because of the slower expansion of high-N clusters, relaxation times become almost independent of the particle number after several core collapse times, at least for the particle range of our study. As a result, the dissolution times of isolated clusters exhibit a surprisingly weak dependence on N.