Related papers: Some Musings on Globular Cluster Systems
Shells in Elliptical Galaxies are faint, sharp-edged features, believed to provide evidence of a recent ($\sim 0.5 - 2 \times 10^9$ years ago) merger event. We analyse the Globular Cluster (GC) systems of six shell elliptical galaxies, to…
The globular cluster systems of galaxies are well-known to extend to large galactocentric radii. Here we quantify the size of GC systems using the half number radius of 22 GC systems around early-type galaxies from the literature. We…
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…
In the last decade we witness an advent of new types of dwarf stellar systems in cluding ultra-compact dwarfs, ultra-faint dwarf spheroidals, and exotic globular clusters, breaking the old simple paradigm for dwarf galaxies and globular…
We present a study of globular clusters (GCs) in 17 relatively nearby early-type galaxies, based on deep HST/WFPC2 F555W and F814W images. We compare color distributions, cluster sizes and luminosity functions with those of GCs in the Milky…
The connection between a galaxy's total globular cluster system (GCS) mass and its halo mass has been studied for decades and it has been found that galaxies at nearly all observed masses adhere to a linear scaling relation between these…
Globular Cluster (GC) systems of most early-type galaxies show bimodal optical color distributions, yet their Luminosity Functions (LFs) look like simple Gaussians with turn-over magnitudes used for determination of distances and the Hubble…
Galaxies can be classified in two broad sequences which are likely to reflect their formation mechanism. The `main sequence', consisting of spirals, irregulars and all dwarf galaxies, is probably produced by gas settling within dark matter…
Most Globular Clusters (GC) show chemical inhomogeneities in the composition of their stars, apparently due to a second stellar generation (SG) in which the forming gas is enriched by hot-CNO cycled material processed in stars belonging to…
The majority of stars in the Galactic field and halo are part of binary or multiple systems. A significant fraction of these systems have orbital separations in excess of thousands of astronomical units, and systems wider than a parsec have…
We have determined the amount of stellar mass segregation in over 50 globular clusters and ultra-faint dwarf galaxy candidates based on deep HST and ground-based photometry. We find that the amount of mass segregation in globular clusters…
The Universe's largest galaxy clusters likely built the majority of their massive $>10^{11} M_\odot$ galaxies in simultaneous, short-lived bursts of activity well before virialization. This conclusion is reached from emerging datasets on…
In Martell & Grebel (2010) we reported the discovery in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II/SEGUE spectroscopic database of a small subset of halo red giants, 2.5%, with CN and CH band strengths indicative of globular-cluster-like carbon and…
In this contribution, first results of deep VLT photometry (V,I) in the central region of the Hydra I and Centaurus galaxy clusters are presented. In both galaxy clusters, many star clusters have been identified down to the turnover…
Young, massive star clusters are the most notable and significant end products of violent star-forming episodes triggered by galaxy collisions, mergers, and close encounters. Their contribution to the total luminosity induced by such…
One of the external fields that influences the population of globular clusters is that due to galactic bulges. In extreme situations, perigalactic distances $r_p \le 100$ pc, globular clusters could suffer total disruption in a single…
We explore a mechanism for the formation of the first globular clusters, operating during the assembly of dwarf galaxies at high redshifts, z > 10. The substructure in the dark matter and the corresponding potential wells are responsible…
Recent high-resolution observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) reveal that young star clusters of extraordinary luminosity and compactness ("super star clusters") are commonly found in starburst systems. Cluster formation appears…
We compare the properties of the globular clusters around NGC 1399, NGC 1404 and NGC 1380, the three brightest early-type galaxies in the center of the Fornax galaxy cluster. The globular cluster systems are qualitatively very similar,…
Stars in globular clusters (GCs) exhibit a peculiar chemical pattern with strong abundance variations in light elements along with a constant abundance in heavy elements. These abundance anomalies can be explained by a primordial pollution…