  A novel way of looking at the evolution of star clusters is presented. With a
dynamical temperature, given by the mean kinetic energy of the cluster stars,
and a dynamical luminosity, which is defined as the kinetic energy of the stars
leaving the cluster in analogy to the energy of photons emitted by a star, the
dissolution of star clusters is studied using a new dynamical
temperature-luminosity diagram for star clusters. The investigation contains a
parameter-space study of open clusters of up to N = 32768 single-mass stars
with different initial density distributions, half-mass radii, tidal conditions
and binary fractions. The clusters show a strong correlation between dynamical
temperature and dynamical luminosity and most of the investigated cluster
families share a common sequence in such a dynamical temperature-luminosity
diagram. Deviations from this sequence are analyzed and discussed. After core
collapse, the position of a cluster within this diagram can be defined by three
parameters: the mass, the tidal conditions and the binary fraction. Due to core
collapse all initial conditions are lost and the remaining stars adjust to the
given tidal conditions. Binaries as internal energy sources influence this
adjustment. A further finding concerns the Lagrange radii of star clusters:
Throughout the investigated parameter space nearly all clusters show a constant
half-mass radius for the time after core collapse until dissolution.
Furthermore, the ratio of half-mass radius to tidal radius evolves onto a
common sequence which only depends on the mass left in the cluster.
