Euclid preparation. LVIII. Detecting globular clusters in the Euclid survey
Abstract
Extragalactic globular clusters (EGCs) are an abundant and powerful tracer of galaxy dynamics and formation, and their own formation and evolution is also a matter of extensive debate. The compact nature of globular clusters means that they are hard to spatially resolve and thus study outside the Local Group. In this work we have examined how well EGCs will be detectable in images from the Euclid telescope, using both simulated pre-launch images and the first early-release observations of the Fornax galaxy cluster. The Euclid Wide Survey will provide high-spatial resolution VIS imaging in the broad IE band as well as near-infrared photometry (YE, JE, and HE). We estimate that the galaxies within 100 Mpc in the footprint of the Euclid survey host around 830 000 EGCs of which about 350 000 are within the survey's detection limits. For about half of these EGCs, three infrared colours will be available as well. For any galaxy within 50Mpc the brighter half of its GC luminosity function will be detectable by the Euclid Wide Survey. The detectability of EGCs is mainly driven by the residual surface brightness of their host galaxy. We find that an automated machine-learning EGC-classification method based on real Euclid data of the Fornax galaxy cluster provides an efficient method to generate high purity and high completeness GC candidate catalogues. We confirm that EGCs are spatially resolved compared to pure point sources in VIS images of Fornax. Our analysis of both simulated and first on-sky data show that Euclid will increase the number of GCs accessible with high-resolution imaging substantially compared to previous surveys, and will permit the study of GCs in the outskirts of their hosts. Euclid is unique in enabling systematic studies of EGCs in a spatially unbiased and homogeneous manner and is primed to improve our understanding of many understudied aspects of GC astrophysics.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2405.14015,
title = {Euclid preparation. LVIII. Detecting globular clusters in the Euclid survey},
author = {Euclid Collaboration and K. Voggel and A. Lançon and T. Saifollahi and S. S. Larsen and M. Cantiello and M. Rejkuba and J. -C. Cuillandre and P. Hudelot and A. A. Nucita and M. Urbano and E. Romelli and M. A. Raj and M. Schirmer and C. Tortora and Abdurro'uf and F. Annibali and M. Baes and P. Boldrini and R. Cabanac and D. Carollo and C. J. Conselice and P. -A. Duc and A. M. N. Ferguson and L. K. Hunt and J. H. Knapen and P. Lonare and F. R. Marleau and M. Paolillo and M. Poulain and R. Sánchez-Janssen and E. Sola and S. Andreon and N. Auricchio and C. Baccigalupi and M. Baldi and S. Bardelli and C. Bodendorf and D. Bonino and E. Branchini and M. Brescia and J. Brinchmann and S. Camera and V. Capobianco and C. Carbone and R. G. Carlberg and J. Carretero and S. Casas and M. Castellano and G. Castignani and S. Cavuoti and A. Cimatti and C. Colodro-Conde and G. Congedo and L. Conversi and Y. Copin and F. Courbin and H. M. Courtois and M. Cropper and A. Da Silva and H. Degaudenzi and G. De Lucia and A. M. Di Giorgio and J. Dinis and F. Dubath and X. Dupac and S. Dusini and M. Farina and S. Farrens and S. Ferriol and S. Fotopoulou and M. Frailis and E. Franceschi and M. Fumana and S. Galeotta and K. George and W. Gillard and B. Gillis and C. Giocoli and P. Gómez-Alvarez and A. Grazian and F. Grupp and S. V. H. Haugan and H. Hoekstra and W. Holmes and I. Hook and F. Hormuth and A. Hornstrup and K. Jahnke and E. Keihänen and S. Kermiche and A. Kiessling and M. Kilbinger and R. Kohley and B. Kubik and M. Kümmel and M. Kunz and H. Kurki-Suonio and R. Laureijs and P. Liebing and S. Ligori and P. B. Lilje and V. Lindholm and I. Lloro and D. Maino and E. Maiorano and O. Mansutti and O. Marggraf and K. Markovic and M. Martinelli and N. Martinet and F. Marulli and R. Massey and S. Maurogordato and E. Medinaceli and S. Mei and Y. Mellier and M. Meneghetti and E. Merlin and G. Meylan and M. Moresco and L. Moscardini and E. Munari and R. Nakajima and C. Neissner and R. C. Nichol and S. -M. Niemi and J. W. Nightingale and C. Padilla and S. Paltani and F. Pasian and K. Pedersen and V. Pettorino and S. Pires and G. Polenta and M. Poncet and L. A. Popa and L. Pozzetti and F. Raison and R. Rebolo and A. Renzi and J. Rhodes and G. Riccio and M. Roncarelli and E. Rossetti and R. Saglia and Z. Sakr and D. Sapone and B. Sartoris and R. Scaramella and P. Schneider and T. Schrabback and A. Secroun and E. Sefusatti and G. Seidel and S. Serrano and C. Sirignano and G. Sirri and L. Stanco and J. Steinwagner and C. Surace and P. Tallada-Crespí and H. I. Teplitz and I. Tereno and R. Toledo-Moreo and F. Torradeflot and I. Tutusaus and E. A. Valentijn and L. Valenziano and T. Vassallo and A. Veropalumbo and Y. Wang and J. Weller and G. Zamorani and E. Zucca and A. Biviano and M. Bolzonella and E. Bozzo and C. Burigana and M. Calabrese and D. Di Ferdinando and J. A. Escartin Vigo and R. Farinelli and J. Gracia-Carpio and N. Mauri and V. Scottez and M. Tenti and M. Viel and M. Wiesmann and Y. Akrami and V. Allevato and S. Anselmi and M. Ballardini and M. Bethermin and A. Blanchard and L. Blot and S. Borgani and A. S. Borlaff and S. Bruton and A. Calabro and G. Canas-Herrera and A. Cappi and C. S. Carvalho and T. Castro and K. C. Chambers and S. Contarini and A. R. Cooray and B. De Caro and G. Desprez and A. Díaz-Sánchez and S. Di Domizio and H. Dole and S. Escoffier and I. Ferrero and F. Finelli and F. Fornari and L. Gabarra and K. Ganga and J. García-Bellido and V. Gautard and E. Gaztanaga and F. Giacomini and G. Gozaliasl and A. Hall and H. Hildebrandt and J. Hjorth and O. Ilbert and J. J. E. Kajava and V. Kansal and D. Karagiannis and C. C. Kirkpatrick and L. Legrand and G. Libet and A. Loureiro and J. Macias-Perez and G. Maggio and M. Magliocchetti and F. Mannucci and R. Maoli and C. J. A. P. Martins and S. Matthew and L. Maurin and R. B. Metcalf and P. Monaco and C. Moretti and G. Morgante and Nicholas A. Walton and L. Patrizii and A. Pezzotta and M. Pöntinen and V. Popa and C. Porciani and D. Potter and P. Reimberg and I. Risso and P. -F. Rocci and M. Sahlén and A. Schneider and M. Sereno and P. Simon and A. Spurio Mancini and G. Testera and R. Teyssier and S. Toft and S. Tosi and A. Troja and M. Tucci and J. Valiviita and D. Vergani and G. Verza and I. A. Zinchenko and G. A. Mamon and D. Scott},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.14015},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
Accepted in A&A