English

Globular clusters in the Galactic bulge

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2016-07-06 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

A view of the Galactic bulge by means of their globular clusters is necessary for a deep understanding of its formation and evolution. Connections between the globular cluster and field star properties in terms of kinematics, orbits, chemical abundances and ages should shed light on different stellar population components. Based on spatial distribution and metallicity, we define a probable best list of bulge clusters, containing 43 entries. Future work on newly discovered objects, mostly from the VVV survey, is suggested. These candidates might alleviate the issue of missing clusters on the far side of the bulge. We discuss the reddening law affecting the cluster distances towards the center of the Galaxy, and conclude that the most suitable total-to-selective absorption value appears to be RV_{\rm V}=3.2, in agreement with recent analyses. An update of elemental abundances for bulge clusters is provided.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1510.07834,
  title  = {Globular clusters in the Galactic bulge},
  author = {E. Bica and S. Ortolani and B. Barbuy},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1510.07834},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

16 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, accepted for PASA

R2 v1 2026-06-22T11:29:51.082Z