Related papers: Stellar Abundances in Young and Intermediate Age G…
Abundance patterns of the elements C, N, and O are sensitive probes of stellar nucleosynthesis processes and, in addition, O abundances are an important input for stellar age determinations. Understanding the nature of the observed…
Star formation plays a central role in the evolution of galaxies and of the Universe as a whole. Studies of star-forming regions in the local universe have shown that star formation typically occurs in a clustered fashion. Building a…
The discovery of star-to-star abundance variations (a.k.a. multiple populations - MPs) within globular clusters (GCs), which are generally not found in the field or in lower mass open clusters, has led to a search for the unique property of…
Star-to-star light-element abundance variations, know as multiple stellar populations (MPs), are common in almost all Galactic globular clusters. Recently, MPs have also been detected in a number of massive clusters with ages in excess of 2…
In galaxy clusters, hierarchical assembly predicts the formation of stellar substructures and intracluster light (ICL), a diffuse stellar component tracing the global cluster potential. Because these features are extremely faint,…
Some globular clusters are observed to host a population of second generation (SG) stars which show chemical anomalies and must have formed from gas containing matter processed in the envelopes of first generation (FG) cluster stars. We…
Currently there are two competing scenarios to explain the origin of the stellar population in globular clusters (GCs). The main difference between them is whether or not multiple events of star formation took place within GCs. In this…
Globular clusters host complex stellar populations whose chemical signatures suggest early (3 Myr - 1 Gyr) retention and reprocessing of stellar ejecta, yet direct evidence for intracluster gas is lacking. Here we present a unified…
I discuss how spectroscopy of extragalactic globular clusters provides a powerful probe of the formation history and mass distribution of galaxies. One critical area is spectroscopy of objects which have been identified as candidate young…
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…
Optical and X-ray studies have established the prevalence of significant substructure in clusters of galaxies, indicating that clusters are young systems, and that recent major mergers have occurred in many clusters. Numerical simulations…
We apply the semi-analytical galaxy formation code of Cole et al. to investigate the formation of globular cluster (GC) systems in hierarchical clustering scenarios. The nature of the model allows us to investigate the properties of GC…
Globular clusters (GCs) are found in all types of galaxies and harbor some of the most extreme stellar systems, including black holes that may dynamically assemble into merging binaries (BBHs). Uncertain GC properties, including when they…
We study the formation of globular clusters (GCs) in a Milky Way-size galaxy using a high-resolution cosmological simulation. The clusters in our model form in the dense cores of supergiant molecular clouds in the gaseous disks of…
Protostars and young stars are strongly spatially "clustered" or "correlated" within their natal giant molecular clouds (GMCs). We demonstrate that such clustering leads to the conclusion that the incident bolometric radiative flux upon a…
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…
The mere existence of multiple stellar generations in Milky Way globular clusters indicates that each generation was unable to stop star formation, that instead persisted unimpeded for several million years. This evidence argues for an…
We present an analysis of the spatial distribution of globular cluster (GC) systems of 118 nearby early-type galaxies in the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) and Mass Assembly of early-Type GaLAxies with their fine Structures…
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…
Central cluster galaxies are the largest and most massive galaxies in the Universe. Although they host very old stellar populations, several studies found the existence of blue cores in some BCGs indicating ongoing star formation. We…