Related papers: Sustained formation of progenitor globular cluster…
We present the serendipitous discovery of 195 extragalactic globular clusters (GCs) in one of the deepest optical images ever obtained, a 126 orbit HST/ACS imaging study of the nearby Galactic GC NGC 6397. The distant GCs are all found…
Understanding the formation of globular clusters will help us to constrain the evolutionary history of galaxies. For mergers on-going today, it appears that the number of newly created proto-globulars varies with the progenitor types and…
The small group of Galactic Globular Clusters (GGC) (Pal 12, Terzan 7, Ruprecht 106, Arp 2) recently discovered to be significantly younger (by ~3-4 Gyr) than the average cluster population of the Galaxy are shown to lie near planes passing…
This paper explores if the mean properties of Early-Type Galaxies (ETG) can be reconstructed from "genetic" information stored in their GCs (i.e., in their chemical abundances, spatial distributions and ages). This approach implies that the…
Massive galaxies are thought to form in two phases: an initial, early collapse of gas and giant burst of central star formation, followed by the later accretion of material that builds up their stellar and dark matter haloes. The globular…
By means of grid-based, 3D hydrodynamical simulations we study the formation of second generation (SG) stars in a young globular cluster (GC) of mass 10^7 Msun, the possible progenitor of an old GC with a present mass ~(1-5) * 10^6 Msun.…
Stars are forming in our galaxy at a rate of between 1 and 4 solar masses of stars per year. In contrast to elliptical galaxies, which are largely devoid of star formation, star formation is still going on in spiral galaxies because of…
We have investigated the global properties of the globular cluster (GC) systems of three early-type galaxies: the Virgo elliptical NGC4406, the field elliptical NGC3379, and the field S0 galaxy NGC4594. These galaxies were observed as part…
Globular cluster systems provide valuable fossil records of the formation history of their parent galaxies. This review specifically concentrates on using color distributions of the globular cluster systems of elliptical galaxies to…
Globular clusters (GCs) are old massive star clusters that serve as `fossils' of galaxy formation. The advent of Gaia observatory has enabled detailed kinematics studies of the Galactic GCs and revolutionized our understanding of the…
Massive galaxy clusters are now found as early as 3 billion years after the Big Bang, containing stars that formed at even earlier epochs. The high-redshift progenitors of these galaxy clusters, termed 'protoclusters', are identified in…
Perhaps the most noteworthy of recent findings in extragalactic globular cluster (GC) research are the multimodal GC metallicity distributions seen in massive early-type galaxies. We explore the origin of these distinct GC populations, the…
Young massive clusters (YMCs) are the most compact, high-mass stellar systems still forming at the present day. The precursor clouds to such systems are, however, rare due to their large initial gas mass reservoirs and rapid dispersal…
Here we present HST WFPC2 imaging of 14 kinematically--distinct core ellipticals to examine their globular cluster systems. In particular, we probe the galaxy central regions, for which we might expect to see the strongest signatures of…
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…
The majority of Galactic globular clusters (GCs) contain multiple stellar populations displaying specific chemical abundance variations. In particular, GCs generally contain a `primordial' population with abundances similar to field stars,…
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…
In about 40% of the Local Group galaxies star clusters have been detected so far, but the census is still incomplete. The properties of these clusters are briefly reviewed, and the impact of galaxy environment on the evolution and survival…
Most old globular clusters (GCs) in the Galaxy are observed to have internal chemical abundance spreads in light elements. We discuss a new GC formation scenario based on hierarchical star formation within fractal molecular clouds. In the…
The superior resolution of HST and the light gathering power of large 8-10m class telescopes are now providing information on distant globular clusters (GCs) that is comparable to that obtained in early 1990s for Local Group systems. Here I…