Related papers: Finding Forming Globular Clusters at High Redshift…
How Very Young Massive star Clusters (VYMCs; also known as "starburst" clusters), which typically are of $\gtrsim 10^4M_\odot$ and are a few Myr old, form out of Giant Molecular Clouds is still largely an open question. Increasingly…
The age difference between the two main globular cluster sub-populations in the Virgo giant elliptical galaxy, NGC 4472 (M 49), has been determined using HST WFPC2 images in the F555W and F814W filters. Accurate photometry has been obtained…
This paper explores if, and to what an extent, the stellar populations of early type galaxies can be traced through the colour distribution of their globular cluster systems. The analysis, based on a galaxy sample from the Virgo ACS data,…
The 26 long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with known redshifts form a distinct cosmological set, selected differently than other cosmological probes such as quasars and galaxies. Since the progenitors are now believed to be connected…
Recent observations of globular clusters in intermediate-age (2-4 Gyr old) merger remnants have provided the hitherto `missing link' between between young merger remnants and normal elliptical galaxies. The luminosity functions (LFs) of the…
Globular clusters are unique tracers of ancient star formation. We determine the formation efficiencies of globular clusters across cosmic time by modeling the formation and dynamical evolution of the globular cluster population of a Milky…
(ABRIDGED) The ACS camera on board the Hubble Space Telescope has been used to obtain deep images of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 3610, a well-established dissipative galaxy merger remnant. These observations supersede previous WFPC2…
We summarize our work on structures in different stages of aggregation, and spanning a wide range in redshift. We emphasize our work on high resdhift clusters. This comprises the analysis of ~7 square degrees using deep images with several…
Young star clusters (YSCs) appear to be a ubiquitous product of star formation in local galaxies, thus, they can be used to study the star formation process at work in their host galaxies. Moreover, YSCs are intrinsically brighter that…
Globular cluster (GC) systems around galaxies of a vast mass range show remarkably simple scaling relations. The combined mass of all GCs is a constant fraction of the total galaxy mass and the mean metallicity and metallicity dispersion of…
It is now well established that globular clusters (GCs) exhibit star-to-star light-element abundance variations (known as multiple stellar populations, MPs). Such chemical anomalies have been found in (nearly) all the ancient GCs (more than…
Quasars at large redshifts provide a powerful probe of structure formation in the early universe. Several arguments suggest that the formation of ellipticals and massive bulges may have involved an early quasar phase. At very large…
We investigate the structural, kinematical, and chemical properties of globular cluster systems (GCSs) in galaxies of different Hubble types in a self-consistent manner based on high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations combined with…
A number of scenarios have been put forward to explain the origin of the chemical anomalies (and resulting complex colour-magnitude diagrams) observed in globular clusters (GCs), namely the AGB, Fast Rotating Massive Star, Very Massive…
We collected radial velocities of more than 50.000 individual stars in 156 Galactic globular clusters (GGC) and matched them with HST photometry and Gaia DR2 proper motions. This allowed us to derive the GGC's mean proper motions and space…
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 analyse the globular cluster (GC) systems of a sample of 15 massive, compact early-type galaxies (ETGs), 13 of which have already been identified as good relic galaxy candidates on the basis of their compact morphologies, old stellar…
We examine various implications from a dynamical and chemical model of globular clusters (GCs), which successfully reproduces the observed abundance patterns and the multiple populations of stars in these systems assuming chemical…
One of the currently favored scenarios for the formation of globular clusters (GCs) with multiple stellar populations is that an initial massive stellar system forms (`first generation', FG), subsequently giving rise to gaseous ejecta which…
I review the long-term survival chances of young massive star clusters (YMCs), hallmarks of intense starburst episodes often associated with violent galaxy interactions. In particular, I address the key question as to whether at least some…