Related papers: Globular clusters as laboratories for stellar evol…
Recent work on globular cluster systems in dwarf galaxies outside the Local Group is reviewed. Recent large imaging surveys with the Hubble Space Telescope and follow-up spectroscopy with 8-m class telescopes now allow us to compare the…
Globular clusters are large and dense agglomerate of stars. At variance with smaller clusters of stars, they exhibit signs of some chemical evolution. At least for this reason, they are intermediate between open clusters and massive objects…
We review the properties of globular clusters which make them useful for studying the Galactic halo, Galactic chemical evolution, and the early stages of the formation of the Milky Way. We review the evidence that GCs have a chemical…
Globular clusters are stellar dynamical systems which evolve on stellar evolutionary and both internal and external dynamical timescales. Quantitative comparison of cluster properties with realistic evolutionary dynamical models is becoming…
Open and globular star clusters have served as benchmarks for the study of stellar evolution due to their supposed nature as simple stellar populations of the same age and metallicity. After a brief review of some of the pioneering work…
Globular star clusters are extremely important astrophysical objects since (1) they are prime laboratories for testing stellar evolution; (2) they are ``fossils'' from the epoch of galaxy formation, and thus important cosmological tools;…
In gaussian theories of structure formation, the galaxy cluster abundance is an extremely sensitive probe of the density fluctuation power spectrum and of the density parameter, $\Omega$. We develop this theme by deriving and studying in…
We present an overview of observational progress in the study of extragalactic globular cluster systems. Globular clusters turn out to be excellent tracers not only for the star-formation histories in galaxies, but also for kinematics at…
Recent progress in studies of globular clusters has shown that they are not simple stellar populations, being rather made of multiple generations. Evidence stems both from photometry and spectroscopy. A new paradigm is then arising for the…
Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their…
For several decades, globular clusters have been considered the best example of simple stellar populations, hosting coeval and chemical homogeneous stars. The last decade of spectroscopic and photometric studies has revealed a more complex…
The properties of old globular cluster systems in galaxy halos are used to infer quantitative constraints on aspects of generic star (cluster) formation. First, the spatial distribution of globulars in three large galaxies, together with…
Globular clusters (GCs) are among the oldest and most luminous stellar systems in the Universe, offering unique insights into galaxy formation and evolution. While the physical processes behind their origin have long remained elusive, major…
Globular clusters (GCs) are spheroidal concentrations typically containing of the order of 10^5 to 10^6, predominantly old, stars. Historically, they have been considered as the closest counterparts of the idealized concept of "simple…
This is a "biased" review because I will show recent evidence on the contribution of globular clusters (GCs) to the halo of our Galaxy seen through the lens of the new paradigm of multiple populations in GCs. I will show a few examples…
We test the hypothesis that globular clusters form in supergiant molecular clouds within high-redshift galaxies. Numerical simulations demonstrate that such large, dense, and cold gas clouds assemble naturally in current hierarchical models…
Globular cluster progenitors may have been detected by \textit{HST}, and are predicted to be observable with \textit{JWST} and ground-based extremely-large telescopes with adaptive optics. This has the potential to elucidate the issue of…
This contribution illustrates the study of galaxy clusters as astrophysical laboratories as well as probes for the large-scale structure of the Universe. Using the REFLEX Cluster Survey, the measurement of the statistics of the large-scale…
Globular clusters provide a unique probe of galaxy formation and evolution. Here I briefly summarize the known observational properties of globular cluster systems. One re-occurring theme is that the globular cluster systems of spirals and…
Representing single stellar populations, globular clusters (GCs) are relatively easy to model, thus providing powerful tools for studying the evolution of galaxies. This has been demonstrated for the blue compact galaxy ESO338-IG04. GC…