The stellar remnants of high redshift nuclear starburst discs: a
  potential origin for nuclear star clusters?
  Nuclear starburst discs (NSDs) are very compact star-forming regions in the
centers of galaxies that have been studied as a possible origin for the
absorbing gas around a central active galactic nucleus. NSDs may be most
relevant at $z\sim 1$ when obscured accretion onto supermassive black holes
(SMBHs) is common. This paper describes the characteristics of the stellar
remnants of NSDs at $z=0.01$, taking into account the evolution from $z=1$.
Using a stellar synthesis model, the colours, masses, and luminosities of the
stellar remnants are computed for a suite of 192 two-dimensional NSD models.
These properties are compared to observations of local nuclear star clusters
(NSCs), and a good match is found between the predicted and observed
properties. Dynamical effects will likely cause the final remnant to be a
rotating, nearly spherical distribution. In addition, $\approx 20$% of the NSD
remnants have half-light radii <~ 10 pc, consistent with NSCs hosted in both
late-type and early-type galaxies, and all the remnants follow similar
size-luminosity relationships as observed in nearby NSCs. NSDs require the
presence of a central SMBH and the most massive and compact stellar remnants
are associated with the most massive SMBHs, although stellar clusters with a
variety of sizes can be produced by all considered SMBH masses. Overall, NSDs
at $z\sim 1$ appear to be a promising origin for the $\gg 1$ Gyr NSC population
in early- and late-type galaxies with large SMBHs.
