Related papers: Multivariate analysis of the globular clusters in …
Detailed observations of globular clusters (GCs) have revealed evidence of self-enrichment: some of the heavy elements that we see in stars today were produced by cluster stars themselves. Moreover, GCs have internal subpopulations with…
CFHT Megacam data in (g',r',i') are used to obtain deep, wide-field photometry of the globular cluster system (GCS) around M87. A total of 6200 GCs brighter than M_I = -8.5 are included in the study, essentially containing almost the entire…
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…
The radial distribution of globular clusters in our Galaxy, M31 and M87 is studied and compared with that of halo stars. The globular cluster distributions seem significantly flatter than those of the stars bulge. Assuming this is a…
We perform an evolutionary multivariate analysis of a sample of 54 Galactic globular clusters with high-quality colour-magnitude diagrams and well-determined ages. The four parameters adopted for the analysis are: metallicity, age, maximum…
We first discuss recent progress in using the Milky Way globular cluster (GC) system as a `test-bed' for properties derived from integrated spectra and stellar population models. Standard techniques may give rise to spuriously high…
This paper explores the quantitative connection between globular clusters and the diffuse stellar population of the galaxies they are associated with. Both NGC 1399 and NGC 4486 (M87) are well suited for this kind of analysis due to their…
The observed characteristics of globular cluster (GC) systems, such as metallicity distributions, are commonly used to place constraints on galaxy formation models. However, obtaining reliable metallicity values is particularly difficult…
As shown in previous works, globular clusters can be used to trace the overall structure of the diffuse stellar populations in early type galaxies if the number of clusters per unit stellar mass depends on metallicity. In this paper we…
Relative ages for the globular cluster (GC) subpopulations in the Virgo giant elliptical galaxy M87 (NGC 4486) have been determined from Stroemgren photometry obtained with WFPC2 on board HST. Using a variety of population synthesis models,…
We develop a model of globular cluster (GC) formation within the cosmological hierarchy of structure formation. The model is rooted in the `two-phase' scenario of galaxy formation developed in Paper-I, where the fast accretion of dark…
1057 globular cluster candidates have been identified in a WFPC2 image of the inner region of M87. The Globular Cluster Luminosity Function (GCLF) can be well fit by a Gaussian profile with a mean value of m_V^0=23.67 +/- 0.07 mag and…
New and archival HST images of the globular cluster systems of 17 relatively nearby galaxies and 6 more distant galaxies have been used to establish the characteristics of GC subpopulations over a range of host galaxy morphological type…
A general method is described for detecting and analysing galaxy systems. The multivariate geometrical structure of the sample is studied by using an extension of the method which we introduced in a previous paper. The method is based on an…
We present the results from a study of the dynamics of the system of globular clusters around M87. After eliminating foreground galactic stars and background galaxies, we end up with a sample of 205 bona fide M87 globular clusters for which…
Substructure in globular cluster (GC) populations around large galaxies is expected in galaxy formation scenarios that involve accretion or merger events, and it has been searched for using direct associations between GCs and structure in…
The analysis of pseudo-colour diagrams, the so-called chromosome maps, of Galactic globular clusters (GCs) permits to classify them into type I and type II clusters. Type II GCs are characterized by an above-the-average complexity of their…
Using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager we obtain spectra of several globular clusters (GCs), ultra compact dwarfs (UCDs) and the inner halo starlight of M87, at a similar projected galactocentric radius of $\sim$5 kpc. This enables us, for the…
A catalog of Galactic globular clusters has been compiled and used to analyze relations between the chemical and kinematic parameters of the clusters. The catalog contains positions, distances, luminosities, metallicites, and…
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…