Related papers: Issues in the Formation of Globular Cluster System…
We probe the evolution of globular clusters that could form in giant molecular clouds within high-redshift galaxies. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the large and dense enough gas clouds assemble naturally in current hierarchical…
Theoretical considerations and observational data support the idea that mergers were more frequent in the past. At redshifts z = 2 to 5, violent interactions and mergers may be implicated by observations of Lyman-break galaxies, sub-mm…
Rich clusters of galaxies are the most massive virialized systems known. Even though they contain only a small fraction of all galaxies, rich clusters provide a powerful tool for the study of galaxy formation, dark matter, large-scale…
Globular clusters (GCs) are typically old, with most having formed at z >~ 2. This makes understanding their birth environments difficult, as they are typically too distant to observe with sufficient angular resolution to resolve GC birth…
We present an overview of observational progress in the study of extragalactic globular cluster systems. Globular clusters turn out to be excellent tracers not only for the star-formation histories in galaxies, but also for kinematics at…
Based on a new large, homogeneous photometric database of 35 Galactic globular clusters (GGCs), a set of distance and reddening independent relative age indicators has been measured. The observed D(V-I)_2.5 and D(V)(HB-TO) vs. metallicity…
This paper reviews some recent work on the properties of the outer halos of galaxies. I particularly focus on recent and upcoming advances made with the study of globular clusters. Globular clusters can be observed out to ~100 kpc from the…
Globular cluster (GC) systems have now been studied in galaxies ranging from dwarfs to giants and spanning the full Hubble sequence of morphological types. Imaging and spectroscopy with the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based…
A brief review on globular cluster sub-populations in galaxies, and their constraints on galaxy formation and evolution is given. The metal-poor and metal-rich sub-populations are put in a historical context, and their properties, as known…
Using up-to-date stellar models and isochrones we determine the age of 25 galactic halo clusters. The clusters are distributed into four groups according to metallicity. We measure the absolute age of a reference cluster in each group, and…
We analyzed the shapes of Galactic open clusters by the star counting technique with the 2MASS star catalog database. Morphological parameters such as the ellipticity and size have been derived via stellar density distribution, weighed by…
The colors of globular clusters in most of large elliptical galaxies are bimodal. This is generally taken as evidence for the presence of two cluster subpopulations that have different geneses. However, here we find that, because of the…
Populations of young star clusters show significant differences even among "normal" disk galaxies. In this contribution I discuss how properties of young cluster systems are related to those of their host galaxies, based on a recent study…
Though it is generally assumed that massive molecular clouds are the progenitors of globular clusters, their detailed formation mechanism is still unclear. Standard scenarios based on the collapse of a smooth matter distribution suffer from…
Many, if not all, galaxies host massive compact objects at their centers. They are present as singularities (super massive black holes) or high density star clusters (nuclear tar clusters). In some cases they coexist, and interact more or…
This paper explores the quantitative connection between globular clusters and the diffuse stellar population of the galaxies they are associated with. Both NGC 1399 and NGC 4486 (M87) are well suited for this kind of analysis due to their…
We apply the idea that dense stellar systems in the central region of galaxies are formed via globular cluster mergers to the formation of the nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way, where a massive black hole is present. Our high precision…
The abundance and internal characteristics of rich clusters of galaxies can provide useful constraints on models of large--scale structure formation. This article will review some recent three dimensional, multi--fluid simulations of…
A new grid of theoretical isochrones based on the Yale stellar evolution code using the OPAL and Kurucz opacities has been constructed. The grid of isochrones spans a wide range of metallicities, helium abundances and masses. The…
We propose and investigate a new formation mechanism for globular clusters in which they form within molecular clouds that are formed in the shocked regions created by galactic winds driven by successive supernova explosions shortly after…