Stellar spin in young star clusters: comparison between simulations and observations

ABSTRACT The angular momentum evolution of stars is crucial for understanding the formation and evolution of stars and star clusters. Using high-resolution magnetohydrodynamical simulations of star formation in clouds with different physical properties, we study the initial distribution of stellar rotation periods in young clusters. We compare these results with observations of young Galactic clusters. Simulations qualitatively reproduce the observed trend of increasing rotation period with stellar mass. Additionally, simulations with lower virial parameter (ratio of turbulence to gravity) or solenoidal turbulence driving produce period-mass distributions that more closely match the observed ones. These simulations also recover the break in the mass-period relation. However, the break appears at higher masses than in observations and is absent in the youngest simulated clusters. This suggests that the emergence of the break is an important diagnostic of angular momentum evolution during the earliest stages of cluster formation. The simulations yield stars that rotate about an order of magnitude faster than those observed. This discrepancy mainly reflects the earlier evolutionary stage of the simulations, while unresolved physical interactions between stars and discs might also contribute. This conclusion is supported by simulations showing a significant period increase within $0.1{\!-\!}1\, \mathrm{Myr}$. We quantify the required angular-momentum loss by rescaling simulated rotation periods to match observations, finding that $80{\!-\!}95~{{\ \rm per\, cent}}$ of the initial angular momentum must be removed within the first $\mathrm{Myr}$. Our results highlight that understanding the earliest stages of star cluster formation is fundamental to addressing the angular momentum problem.