Abstract
Many dwarf galaxies have disproportionately rich globular cluster (GC) systems for their luminosities. Moreover, the GCs tend to be preferentially associated with the most metal-poor stellar populations in their parent galaxies, making them attractive tracers of the halos of dwarf (and larger) galaxies. In this contribution, I briefly discuss some constraints on cluster disruption obtained from studies of metal-poor GCs in dwarf galaxies. I then discuss our recent work on detailed abundance analysis from integrated-light spectroscopy of GCs in Local Group dwarf galaxies.
Highlights
In most galaxies, stellar halos account for only a small fraction of all stars
The globular cluster (GC) specific frequency increases significantly towards low galaxy masses/luminosities [1,2,3]—a trend that mirrors the trend of overall mass-to-light ratio vs. galaxy mass
The preponderance of metal-poor GCs makes them attractive tracers of the metal-poor stellar populations in dwarf galaxies
Summary
Stellar halos account for only a small fraction of all stars Their low surface brightnesses make them challenging to study in integrated light, and even in more nearby galaxies, where individual stars can still be resolved, samples of old stellar population tracers (such as red giants) are often dominated by the more metal-rich populations. As will be discussed below, the fraction of metal-poor stars that belong to GCs can be so high in some dwarf galaxies that this puts useful constraints on the role of cluster disruption. In this contribution, I first discuss how GCs can be used to put constraints on the role of cluster disruption/dissolution in dwarf galaxies (Section 2).
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