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We study the dynamical evolution of a stellar disk orbiting a massive blackhole. We explore the role of two-body relaxation, mass segregation, stellarevolution and binary heating in affecting the disk evolution, and consider theimpact of the nuclear cluster structure and the stellar-disk mass-function. Weuse analytic arguments and numerical calculations, and apply them to study theevolution of a stellar disk (similar to that observed in the Galactic center;GC), both on the short (few Myr) and longer (100 Myr) evolutionary timescales.We find the dominant processes affecting the disk evolution are two-bodyrelaxation and mass segregation where as binary heating have only a littlecontribution. Massive stars play a dominant role in kinematically heating lowmass stars, and driving them to high eccentricities/inclinations. Multi-massmodels with realistic mass-functions for the disk stars show the disk structureto be mass stratified, with the most massive stars residing in thinnerstructures. Stellar evolution plays an important role in decreasing the numberof massive stars with time, thereby leading to slower relaxation, where theremnant compact objects of these stars are excited to highereccentricities/inclinations. At these later evolutionary stages dynamicalheating by the nuclear cluster plays a progressively more important role. Weconclude that the high eccentricities of the disk-stars in the Galactic Centersuggest that the disk formed with initially high eccentricities, or thatcollective or secular processes dominate the disk evolution. Finally, we findthat the disk structure is expected to keep a thin structure even after 100Myrs. It therefore suggests earlier disks now containing only older, lower massstars might still be observed in the Galactic center, unless destroyed/smearedby other non-two-body relaxation processes.

Short and long term evolution of a stellar disk around a massive black hole: The role of binaries, the cusp and stellar evolution