A STELLAR AUDIT - THE COMPUTATION OF ENCOUNTER RATES FOR 47-TUCANAE AND OMEGA-CENTAURI

Using King-Mitchie models, we compute encounter rates between the vari ous stellar species in the globular clusters omega Cen and 47 Tuc. We also compute event rates for encounters between single stars and a pop ulation of primordial binaries. Using these rates, and what we have le arnt from hydrodynamical simulations of encounters performed earlier, we compute the production rates of objects such as low-mass X-ray bina ries (LMXBs), smothered neutron stars and blue stragglers (massive mai n-sequence stars). If 10 per cent of the stars are contained in primor dial binaries, the production rate of interesting objects from encount ers involving these binaries is as large as that from encounters betwe en single stars. For example, encounters involving binaries produce a significant number of blue stragglers in both globular cluster models, The number of smothered neutron stars may exceed the number of LMXBs by a factor of 5-20, which may help to explain why millisecond pulsars are observed to outnumber LMXBs in globular clusters.