MODEST-2: a summary

This is a summary paper of MODEST-2, a workshop held at the Astronomical Institute ‘Anton Pannekoek’ in Amsterdam, 16–17 December 2002. MODEST is a loose collaboration of people interested in MOdelling DEnse STellar systems, particularly those interested in modelling these systems using all the available physics (stellar dynamics, stellar evolution, hydrodynamics and the interplay between the three) by defining interfaces between different codes. In this paper, we summarize: (1) the main advances in this endeavour since MODEST-1; (2) the main science goals which can be and should be addressed by these types of simulations; and (3) the most pressing theoretical and modelling advances that we identified.