scholarly journals Globular Clusters around Galaxies in Groups

2002 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 342-344
Author(s):  
Cristiano Da Rocha ◽  
Claudia Mendes de Oliveira ◽  
Michael Bolte ◽  
Bodo L. Ziegler ◽  
Thomas H. Puzia

We have obtained deep photometry of NGC 1199 (in HCG 22) and NGC 6868 (in the Telescopium group). Both galaxies are the optically brightest galaxies of their groups. Our analysis of B and R images taken with the Keck II and the VLT/ESO telescopes, detected a population of globular clusters around both galaxies, with total specific frequencies SN = 1.7 ± 0.6 for NGC 1199 and SN = 1.3 ± 0.6 for NGC 6868. The color distributions of the globular cluster systems shows bimodal peaks centered at (B - R)0 = 1.13 ± 0.10 and 1.42 ± 0.10 (NGC 1199) and (B - R)0 = 1.12 ± 0.10 and 1.42 ± 0.10 (NGC 6868).

1983 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 359-364
Author(s):  
K. C. Freeman

In the Milky Way, the globular clusters are all very old, and we are accustomed to think of them as the oldest objects in the Galaxy. The clusters cover a wide range of chemical abundance, from near solar down to about [Fe/H] ⋍ −2.3. However there are field stars with abundances significantly lower than −2.3 (eg Bond, 1980); this implies that the clusters formed during the active phase of chemical enrichment, with cluster formation beginning at a time when the enrichment processes were already well under way.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S246) ◽  
pp. 394-402
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Zepf

AbstractThis paper reviews some of the observational properties of globular cluster systems, with a particular focus on those that constrain and inform models of the formation and dynamical evolution of globular cluster systems. I first discuss the observational determination of the globular cluster luminosity and mass function. I show results from new very deep HST data on the M87 globular cluster system, and discuss how these constrain models of evaporation and the dynamical evolution of globular clusters. The second subject of this review is the question of how to account for the observed constancy of the globular cluster mass function with distance from the center of the host galaxy. The problem is that a radial trend is expected for isotropic cluster orbits, and while the orbits are observed to be roughly isotropic, no radial trend in the globular cluster system is observed. I review three extant proposals to account for this, and discuss observations and calculations that might determine which of these is most correct. The final subject is the origin of the very weak mass-radius relation observed for globular clusters. I discuss how this strongly constrains how globular clusters form and evolve. I also note that the only viable current proposal to account for the observed weak mass-radius relation naturally effects the globular cluster mass function, and that these two problems may be closely related.


2005 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 347-349
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Zepf

AbstractThis paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular clusters are observed to form in galaxy mergers and starbursts in the local universe, which both provides constraints on models of globular cluster formation, and suggests that similar physical conditions existed when most early-type galaxies and their globular clusters formed in the past. A second important observation is that globular cluster systems typically have bimodal color distributions. This was predicted by merger models, and indicates an episodic formation history for elliptical galaxies. A third and very recent result is the discovery of large populations of intermediate age globular clusters in several elliptical galaxies through the use of optical to near-infrared colors. These provide an important link between young cluster systems observed in starbursts and mergers and old cluster systems. This continuum of ages of the metal-rich globular cluster systems also indicates that there is no special age or epoch for the formation of the metal-rich globular clusters, which comprise about half of the cluster population. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of recent results on the globular cluster – low-mass X-ray binary connection.


1995 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 441-442
Author(s):  
J.G. Cohen

We have begun a program with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph, operating with 30 multi-slits per exposure (Oke et al 1994, Cohen et al 1993) on the ten – meter W. M. Keck telescope located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii to observe the globular cluster systems of the Virgo ellipticals. We expect to learn about the dark matter content of galaxy halos, the formation of these halos and their cluster systems, possibly the formation of the galaxy's themselves, the interaction of the cluster system with the galaxy's gravitational potential (i.e. rotation and spinup), and the homogeneity of chemical evolution in various places. The metallicity of the globular clusters versus the metallicity of the underlying galaxy can also by analyzed. In addition the dynamics (i.e. in practice, the rotation and velocity dispersion) of the halo of the parent galaxy versus the globular cluster system can be determined.


2002 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 294-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Puzia ◽  
Markus Kissler-Patig ◽  
Jean Brodie ◽  
Paul Goudfrooij ◽  
Michael Hilker ◽  
...  

Extragalactic Globular Clusters are useful tracers of galaxy formation and evolution. Photometric studies of globular cluster systems beyond the Local Group are still the most popular method to investigate their physical properties, such as their ages and metallicities. However, the limitations of optical photometry are well known. The better wavelength sampling of the underlying cluster's SED using K-band photometry combined with optical passbands allows us to create colors which reduce the age-metallicity degeneracy to the largest extent. Here we report on the very first results of our near-IR photometric survey of globular cluster systems in early-type galaxies outside the Local Group.


2002 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 281-286
Author(s):  
Michael Hilker

In this contribution, first results of deep VLT (V,I) photometry in the central region of the Hydra I galaxy cluster are presented. Many star clusters have been identified not only around several early-type galaxies, but also in the intra-cluster field, as far as 250 kpc from the cluster center. Outside the bulges of the central galaxies NGC 3311 and NGC 3309, the intra-cluster globular cluster system is dominated by blue clusters whose spatial distribution is similar to that of the (newly discovered) dwarf galaxies in Hydra I. The color distributions of globular clusters around NGC 3311 and NGC 3309 are multimodal, with a sharp blue peak and a slightly broader distribution of the red cluster population.


2002 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 333-335
Author(s):  
K.L. Rhode ◽  
S.E. Zepf

We have undertaken a survey of the globular cluster systems of a large sample of elliptical and spiral galaxies in order to test predictions of elliptical galaxy formation models. Here we outline the survey and present a summary of our results for the Virgo elliptical NGC 4472.


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