Related papers: Globular Cluster Evolution in M87 and Fundamental …
Galactic globular clusters consist of two main stellar populations, the pristine (1P) and polluted (2P) stars. The fraction of 1P stars in clusters, $F_{1P}$, is a decreasing function of the cluster present-day mass, $m_{prst}$. The…
A brief overview of the properties of massive star clusters in early-type galaxies is given. All ellipticals (with only one known exception) host massive star clusters in the form of globular clusters, suggesting that their formation is…
We consider the dynamical evolution of small-scale substructure in clusters within two extreme alternate scenarios for their possible origin: 1) the accretion of groups (or small clusters) on quasi-radial orbits, and 2) the merger of…
Globular clusters (GCs) host multiple stellar populations differing in their chemical and dynamical properties. A number of models for the formation of multiple populations predict that the subsystem of second generation (SG) stars is…
Star clusters are observed to form in a highly compact state and with low star-formation efficiencies, and only 10 per cent of all clusters appear to survive to middle- and old-dynamical age. If the residual gas is expelled on a dynamical…
We summarize the results of recent theoretical work on the dynamical evolution of globular clusters containing primordial binaries. Even a very small initial binary fraction (e.g., 10%) can play a key role in supporting a cluster against…
Most globular clusters have half-mass radii of a few pc with no apparent correlation with their masses. This is different from elliptical galaxies, for which the Faber-Jackson relation suggests a strong positive correlation between mass and…
We present the results from a study of the dynamics of the system of globular clusters around M87. After eliminating foreground galactic stars and background galaxies, we end up with a sample of 205 bona fide M87 globular clusters for which…
The evolution of star clusters is largely affected by the tidal field generated by the host galaxy. It is thus in principle expected that under the assumption of an "universal" initial cluster mass function the properties of the evolved…
We present an end-to-end description of the formation process of globular clusters (GCs) which combines a treatment for their formation and dynamical evolution within galaxy haloes with a state-of-the-art semi-analytic simulation of galaxy…
Recent progress in studies of globular clusters has shown that they are not simple stellar populations, being rather made of multiple generations. Evidence stems both from photometry and spectroscopy. A new paradigm is then arising for the…
We study the evolution of star clusters in the Galactic tidal field starting from their birth in molecular clumps. Our model clusters form according to the local-density-driven cluster formation model in which the stellar density profile is…
Velocity dispersions $\sigma$ and Mg absorption line-strengths Mg$_b$ have been measured for a sample of 16 ellipticals in 3 clusters at a redshift of 0.37. Like local cluster ellipticals, these objects show a correlation between Mg$_b$ and…
We use direct N-body simulations to investigate the evolution of star clusters with large size-scales with the particular goal of understanding the so-called extended clusters observed in various Local Group galaxies, including M31 and…
We present the results of a comprehensive analysis of the structure and kinematics of six Galactic globular clusters. By comparing the results of the most extensive photometric and kinematical surveys available to date with suited dynamical…
We discuss constraints on the formation of multiple populations in globular clusters (GCs) imposed by their present-day kinematics (velocity dispersion and anisotropy) and spatial distribution. We argue that the observational evidence…
Using a sample of 425 nearby Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) from von der Linden et al. (2007), we study the relationship between their internal properties (stellar masses, structural parameters and morphologies) and their environment.…
We have investigated the formation of globular cluster (GC) systems in the fiducial semi-analytic galaxy formation model of Cole et al. We assume that GCs are formed at high-redshift (z > 5) in proto-galactic fragments, and during the…
A number of recent observational studies of Galactic globular clusters have measured the variation in the slope of a cluster's stellar mass function $\alpha$ with clustercentric distance $r$. In order to gather a deeper understanding of the…
This review focuses on how galaxies and their globular cluster systems form. I first discuss the now fairly convincing evidence that some globular clusters form in galaxy starbursts/mergers. One way these observations are valuable is they…