Related papers: The Formation of Globular Cluster Systems
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,…
Prompted by a new catalogue of M31 globular clusters, we have collected together individual metallicity values for globular clusters in the Local Group. Although we briefly describe the globular cluster systems of the individual Local Group…
CONTEXT: Extragalactic globular clusters have been studied in elliptical galaxies and in a few luminous spiral galaxies, but little is known about globular clusters in low-luminosity spirals. AIMS: Past observations with the ACS have shown…
We present an analysis of a 50 orbit HST ACS observation of the M87 globular cluster system. We use the extraordinary depth of this dataset to test whether the colors and magnitudes show evidence for a mass-metallicity relation in globular…
Deep HST/WFPC2 (V,I) photometry is used to investigate the globular cluster system (GCS) in NGC 4874, the central cD galaxy of the Coma cluster. The luminosity function of the clusters displays its normal Gaussian-like shape and turnover…
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…
I present selected results from a wide-field CCD survey of the globular cluster systems of giant galaxies, including showing how measurements of the specific frequency of metal-poor globular clusters can constrain the redshift of their…
The abundance of alpha elements and iron in stars of globular clusters shows the composition of the gaseous medium, in which they have been formed. In the present paper, we discuss a possibility to consider dense clouds of circumgalactic…
The properties of old globular cluster systems (GCSs) in galaxy halos offer unique insight into the physical processes that conspire to form any generic star cluster, at any epoch. Presented here is a summary of the information obtained…
We present a high-resolution simulation of globular cluster formation in a galaxy merger. For the first time in such a simulation, individual star clusters are directly identified and followed on their orbits. We quantitatively compare star…
The properties of old globular cluster systems in galaxy halos are used to infer quantitative constraints on aspects of generic star (cluster) formation. First, the spatial distribution of globulars in three large galaxies, together 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…
The origin and formation of globular clusters has remained a mystery. We present a formation scenario for ancient globular cluster-like objects that form in ultra-high resolution simulations (smallest cell size $<0.1\,\mathrm{pc}$, mass…
We present a statistical analysis of the properties of a large sample of dynamically hot old stellar systems, from globular clusters to giant ellipticals, which was performed in order to investigate the origin of ultra-compact dwarf…
In models of galaxy formation in a hierarchical Universe, elliptical galaxies form through the merging of smaller disk systems. These models yield a number of testable predictions if reliable techniques for determining the relative ages and…
We present recent multi-object spectroscopy of globular clusters in the Virgo gEs M49 and M87. In M49, we have a total of 144 confirmed clusters out to 8 arcmin radius (~6 R_eff or 35 kpc). We find that the blue (metal-poor) clusters have…
Recent observational results on the globular cluster systems of spiral galaxies are summarized. Although the number of spirals with well-studied GCSs is still small, new studies promise to increase it rapidly in the next few years. New…
The globular cluster population in M87 has decreased measurably through dynamical evolution caused by relaxation, binary heating and time-dependent tidal perturbation. For fundamental plane ellipticals in general, cluster populations evolve…
This paper is aimed at emphasizing some of the main hints, constraints and difficulties we currently have in trying to understand how globular clusters formed, along with their multiple stellar generations, an issue that must be regarded as…
Metal poor globular clusters (MPGCs) are a unique probe of the early universe, in particular the reionization era. Systems of globular clusters in galaxy clusters are particularly interesting as it is in the progenitors of galaxy clusters…