Related papers: On the origin of globular cluster bimodality
Observed metallicities of globular clusters reflect physical conditions in the interstellar medium of their high-redshift host galaxies. Globular cluster systems in most large galaxies display bimodal color and metallicity distributions,…
We present new (B,I) photometry for the globular cluster systems in eight Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs), obtained with the ACS/WFC camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. In the very rich cluster systems that reside within these giant…
The colors of globular clusters in most of large elliptical galaxies are bimodal. This is generally taken as evidence for the presence of two cluster subpopulations that have different geneses. However, here we find that, because of the…
Globular clusters in most large galaxies are a mixture of metal-poor and metal-rich (bimodal), but the halo stars are almost entirely metal-rich. This and other lines of evidence argue that the metal-poor globular clusters formed within…
Various galaxy properties are not continuous over a large range in mass, but rather reveal a remarkable transition or `bimodality' at a stellar mass of 3 x 10^{10} Mo. These properties include colors, stellar populations, Xray emission and…
The most massive elliptical galaxies show a prominent multi-modality in their globular cluster system color distributions. Understanding the mechanisms which lead to multiple globular cluster sub-populations is essential for a complete…
Metal-rich (red) globular clusters in massive galaxies are, on average, smaller than metal-poor (blue) globular clusters. One of the possible explanations for this phenomenon is that the two populations of clusters have different spatial…
Globular cluster (GC) systems have now been studied in galaxies ranging from dwarfs to giants and spanning the full Hubble sequence of morphological types. Imaging and spectroscopy with the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based…
The formation of populous secondary star cluster systems is a widespread phenomenon in mergers of gas-rich galaxies. Many, if not most, of those clusters are massive and compact enough to be young globular clusters (GCs). GC systems in most…
Collisions and mergers of gas-rich galaxies trigger bursts of star and cluster formation. Of the thousands of clusters typically formed during a major merger, only the most massive and compact survive for Gigayears as globular clusters…
Modern hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation are able to predict accurately the rates and locations of the assembly of giant molecular clouds in early galaxies. These clouds could host star clusters with the masses and sizes of real…
The optical colors of globular clusters (GCs) in most large early-type galaxies are bimodal. Blue and red GCs show a sharp difference in the radial profile of their surface number density in the sense that red GCs are more centrally…
The mass distribution and chemical composition of globular cluster (GC) systems preserve fossil record of the early stages of galaxy formation. The observed distribution of GC colors within massive early-type galaxies in the ACS Virgo…
Galaxy bimodality is caused by the bulge-disc nature of galaxies as opposed to two distinct galaxy classes. This is evident in the colour-structure plane which clearly shows that elliptical galaxies (bulge-only) lie in the red compact peak…
We present a cosmological zoom-in simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy used to explore the formation and evolution of star clusters. We investigate in particular the origin of the bimodality observed in the colour and metallicity of…
Globular cluster systems exhibit a bewildering variety of characteristics. No single scenario appears to be able to account for the wide range of specific globular cluster frequencies that are observed in galaxies of various types. The…
This review presents the results of ongoing studies of the formation histories of metal-poor and metal-rich globular clusters and their host galaxies. I first discuss the strong observational evidence that the globular cluster systems of…
A large number of early type galaxies are now known to possess blue and red subpopulations of globular clusters. We have compiled a database of 28 such galaxies exhibiting bimodal globular cluster colour distributions. After converting to a…
Mergers of gas-rich galaxies lead to gravitationally driven increases in gas pressure that can trigger intense bursts of star and cluster formation. Although star formation itself is clustered, most newborn stellar aggregates are unbound…
The bimodal globular cluster (GC) metallicity distributions of many giant elliptical galaxies are often cited as evidence for the formation of such galaxies through mergers involving gas-rich spirals. In such models, the metal- rich GCs are…