Globular Cluster Candidates Research Articles

GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEMS AND THEIR HOST GALAXIES: COMPARISON OF SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS AND COLORS

We present a study of the spatial and color distributions of four early-type galaxies and their globular cluster (GC) systems observed as part of our ongoing wide-field imaging survey. We use $BVR$ KPNO-4m+MOSAIC imaging data to characterize the galaxies' GC populations, perform surface photometry of the galaxies, and compare the projected two-dimensional shape of the host galaxy light to that of the GC population. The GC systems of the ellipticals NGC 4406 and NGC 5813 both show an elliptical distribution consistent with that of the host galaxy light. Our analysis suggests a similar result for the giant elliptical NGC 4472, but a smaller GC candidate sample precludes a definite conclusion. For the S0 galaxy NGC 4594, the GCs have a circular projected distribution, in contrast to the host galaxy light which is flattened in the inner regions. For NGC 4406 and NGC 5813 we also examine the projected shapes of the metal-poor and metal-rich GC subpopulations and find that both subpopulations have elliptical shapes that are consistent with those of the host galaxy light. Lastly, we use integrated colors and color profiles to compare the stellar populations of the galaxies to their GC systems. For each galaxy, we explore the possibility of color gradients in the individual metal-rich and metal-poor GC subpopulations. We find statistically significant color gradients in both GC subpopulations of NGC 4594 over the inner $\sim 5$ effective radii ($\sim 20$ kpc). We compare our results to scenarios for the formation and evolution of giant galaxies and their GC systems.

THE SLUGGS SURVEY:HST/ACS MOSAIC IMAGING OF THE NGC 3115 GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEM

We present HST/ACS $g$ and $z$ photometry and half-light radii $R_{\rm h}$ measurements of 360 globular cluster (GC) candidates around the nearby S0 galaxy NGC 3115. We also include Subaru/Suprime-Cam $g$, $r$, and $i$ photometry of 421 additional candidates. The well-established color bimodality of the GC system is obvious in the HST/ACS photometry. We find evidence for a "blue tilt" in the blue GCs, wherein the blue GCs get redder as luminosity increases, indicative of a mass-metallicity relationship. We find a color gradient in both the red and blue subpopulations, with each group of clusters becoming bluer at larger distances from NGC 3115. The gradient is of similar strength in both subpopulations, but is monotonic and more significant for the blue clusters. On average, the blue clusters have ~10% larger $R_{\rm h}$ than the red clusters. This average difference is less than is typically observed for early-type galaxies but does match that measured in the literature for M104, suggesting that morphology and inclination may affect the measured size difference between the red and blue clusters. However, the scatter on the $R_{\rm h}$ measurements is large. We also identify 31 clusters more extended than typical GCs, which we consider ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) candidates. Many of these objects are fainter than typical UCDs. While it is likely that a significant number will be background contaminants, six of these UCD candidates are spectroscopically confirmed. To explore low-mass X-ray binaries in the GC system, we match our ACS and Suprime-Cam detections to corresponding Chandra X-ray sources. We identify 45 X-ray - GC matches, 16 among the blue subpopulation and 29 among the red subpopulation. These X-ray/GC coincidence fractions are larger than is typical for most GC systems, probably due to the increased depth of the X-ray data compared to previous studies of GC systems.

The outer halo globular cluster system of M31 – I. The final PAndAS catalogue

We report the discovery of 59 globular clusters (GCs) and two candidate GCs in a search of the halo of M31, primarily via visual inspection of CHFT/MegaCam imagery from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS). The superior quality of these data also allow us to check the classification of remote objects in the Revised Bologna Catalogue (RBC), plus a subset of GC candidates drawn from SDSS imaging. We identify three additional new GCs from the RBC, and confirm the GC nature of 11 SDSS objects (8 of which appear independently in our remote halo catalogue); the remaining 188 candidates across both lists are either foreground stars or background galaxies. Our new catalogue represents the first uniform census of GCs across the M31 halo - we find clusters to the limit of the PAndAS survey area at projected radii of up to R_proj ~ 150 kpc. Tests using artificial clusters reveal that detection incompleteness cuts in at luminosities below M_V = -6.0; our 50% completeness limit is M_V ~ -4.1. We construct a uniform set of PAndAS photometric measurements for all known GCs outside R_proj = 25$ kpc, and any new GCs within this radius. With these data we update results from Huxor et al. (2011), investigating the luminosity function (LF), colours and effective radii of M31 GCs with a particular focus on the remote halo. We find that the GCLF is clearly bimodal in the outer halo (R_proj > 30 kpc), with the secondary peak at M_V ~ -5.5. We argue that the GCs in this peak have most likely been accreted along with their host dwarf galaxies. Notwithstanding, we also find, as in previous surveys, a substantial number of GCs with above-average luminosity in the outer M31 halo - a population with no clear counterpart in the Milky Way.

NEW 2MASS NEAR-INFRARED PHOTOMETRY FOR GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN M31

We present Two Micron All Sky Survey JHKs photometry for 913 star clusters and candidates in the field of M31, which are selected from the latest Revised Bologna Catalog of M31 globular clusters (GCs) and candidates. The photometric measurements in this paper supplement this catalog, and provide the most comprehensive and homogeneous photometric catalog for M31 GCs in the JHKs bandpasses. In general, our photometry is consistent withpreviousmeasurements.Theglobularclusterluminosityfunction(GCLF)peaksfortheconfirmedGCsderived by fitting a t5 distribution using the maximum likelihood method are J0 = 15.348 +0.206 −0.208 , H0 = 14.703 +0.176 −0.180 , and Ks0 = 14.534 +0.142 −0.146 , all of which agree well with previous studies. The GCLFs are different between metal-rich (MR) and metal-poor (MP), and between inner and outer subpopulations, as MP clusters are fainter than their MR counterparts and the inner clusters are brighter than the outer ones, which confirm previous results. The NIR colors of the GC candidates are on average redder than those of the confirmed GCs, which leads to an obscure bimodal distribution of color indices. The relation of (V − Ks)0 and metallicity shows a notable departure from linearity, with a shallower slope toward the redder end. The color‐magnitude diagram (CMD) and color‐color diagram show that many GC candidates are located out of the evolutionary tracks, suggesting that some of them may be false M31 GC candidates. The CMD also shows that the initial mass function of M31 GCs covers a large range, and the majority of the clusters have initial masses between 10 3 and 10 6 M� .

THE NEXT GENERATION VIRGO CLUSTER SURVEY-INFRARED (NGVS-IR). I. A NEW NEAR-ULTRAVIOLET, OPTICAL, AND NEAR-INFRARED GLOBULAR CLUSTER SELECTION TOOL

The NGVS-IR project (Next Generation Virgo Survey - Infrared) is a contiguous near-infrared imaging survey of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. It complements the optical wide-field survey of Virgo (NGVS). The current state of NGVS-IR consists of Ks-band imaging of 4 deg^2 centered on M87, and J and Ks-band imaging of 16 deg^2 covering the region between M49 and M87. In this paper, we present the observations of the central 4 deg^2 centered on Virgo's core region. The data were acquired with WIRCam on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the total integration time was 41 hours distributed in 34 contiguous tiles. A survey-specific strategy was designed to account for extended galaxies while still measuring accurate sky brightness within the survey area. The average 5\sigma limiting magnitude is Ks=24.4 AB mag and the 50% completeness limit is Ks=23.75 AB mag for point source detections, when using only images with better than 0.7" seeing (median seeing 0.54"). Star clusters are marginally resolved in these image stacks, and Virgo galaxies with \mu_Ks=24.4 AB mag arcsec^-2 are detected. Combining the Ks data with optical and ultraviolet data, we build the uiK color-color diagram which allows a very clean color-based selection of globular clusters in Virgo. This diagnostic plot will provide reliable globular cluster candidates for spectroscopic follow-up campaigns needed to continue the exploration of Virgo's photometric and kinematic sub-structures, and will help the design of future searches for globular clusters in extragalactic systems. Equipped with this powerful new tool, future NGVS-IR investigations based on the uiK diagram will address the mapping and analysis of extended structures and compact stellar systems in and around Virgo galaxies.

Astrophysical data mining with GPU. A case study: Genetic classification of globular clusters

We present a multi-purpose genetic algorithm, designed and implemented with GPGPU/CUDA parallel computing technology. The model was derived from our CPU serial implementation, named GAME (Genetic Algorithm Model Experiment). It was successfully tested and validated on the detection of candidate Globular Clusters in deep, wide-field, single band HST images. The GPU version of GAME will be made available to the community by integrating it into the web application DAMEWARE (DAta Mining Web Application REsource, http://dame.dsf.unina.it/beta_info.html), a public data mining service specialized on massive astrophysical data. Since genetic algorithms are inherently parallel, the GPGPU computing paradigm leads to a speedup of a factor of 200× in the training phase with respect to the CPU based version.

The inhomogeneous reionization of the local intergalactic medium by metal-poor globular clusters

We present detailed radiative transfer simulations of the reionization history of the Milky Way by metal-poor globular clusters. We identify potential metal-poor globular cluster candidates within the Aquarius simulation using dark matter halo velocity dispersions. We calculate the local ionization fields via a photon-conserving, three dimensional non-equilibrium chemistry code and allow the model to propagate through to the present day. The key feature of the model is that globular cluster formation is suppressed if the local gas is ionized. We find that our spatial treatment of the ionization field leads to drastically different numbers and spatial distributions when compared to models where globular cluster formation is simply truncated at a given redshift. We find that it is possible for metal-poor globular clusters to have formed via the dark matter halo formation channel as our secondary model (delayed formation) combined with truncation at z = 10 produces radial distributions statistically consistent with that of the Milky Way metal-poor globular clusters. If globular clusters do indeed form within high-redshift dark matter halos, if only in-part, their contributions to the reionization of the local (i.e. 2^3 h^-3 Mpc^3 centred on the host galaxy) volume and mass by redshift 10 could be as high as 98% and 90%, respectively. In our photon poorest model, this contribution drops to 60% and 50%. The surviving clusters in all models have a narrow average age range (mean = 13.34 Gyr, \sigma = 0.04 Gyr) consistent with current ages estimates of the Milky Way metal-poor globular clusters. We also test a simple dynamical destruction model and estimate that ~60% of all metal-poor globular clusters formed at high redshift have since been destroyed via tidal interactions with the host galaxy.

Multicolour–metallicity relations from globular clusters in NGC 4486 (M87)★

We present Gemini griz photometry for 521 globular cluster (GC) candidates in a 5.5 x 5.5 arcmin field centered 3.8 arcmin to the south and 0.9 arcmin to the west of the center of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4486. All these objects have previously published (C-T1) photometry. We also present new (C-T1) photometry for 338 globulars, within 1.7 arcmin in galactocentric radius, which have (g-z) colors in the photometric system adopted by the Virgo Cluster Survey of the Advanced Camera for Surveys of the Hubble Space Telescope. These photometric data are used to define a self-consistent multicolor grid (avoiding polynomial fits) and preliminary calibrated in terms of two chemical abundance scales. The resulting multicolor color-chemical abundance relations are used to test GC chemical abundance distributions. This is accomplished by modelling the ten GC color histograms that can be defined in terms of the Cgriz bands. Our results suggest that the best fit to the GC observed color histograms is consistent with a genuinely bimodal chemical abundance distribution NGC(Z). On the other side, each (blue and red) GC subpopulation follows a distinct color-color relation.

MORE REMOTE GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN THE OUTER HALO OF M31

We searched the Sloan Digital Sky Survey for outer halo globular clusters (GCs) around M31. Our search of non-stellar objects, within the limits 0.3 < (g-i)o < 1.5 and 14.0 < ro < 19.0 concentrated in some remote areas of the extended halo, to a maximum projected distance of 240 kpc, for a total of approximately 200 square degrees. Another roughly 50 square degrees, approximately 5-75 kpc from M31, were surveyed as test areas. In these areas, we identified 39 GCs and 2 GC candidates, 84% of the previously known GCs (93% of the "classical GCs" and 40% of the "halo extended clusters", on the cluster classification scheme of Huxor et al.). For the entire survey, we visually inspected 78,516 objects for morphological evidence of cluster status, and we identified 18 new clusters, and 75 candidate clusters. The new clusters include 15 classical globulars and three clusters of lower density. Six of the clusters reside in the remote areas of the outer halo, beyond projected distances of 100 kpc. Previously, only MGC1 was found beyond this limit at 117 kpc. The farthest cluster discovered in this survey lies at a projected radius of 158 kpc from M31, assuming that the M31 distance is 780 kpc.

THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER POPULATIONS OF GIANT GALAXIES: MOSAIC IMAGING OF FIVE MODERATE-LUMINOSITY EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES

This paper presents results from wide-field imaging of the globular cluster (GC) systems of five intermediate-luminosity (M_V ~-21 to -22) early-type galaxies. The aim is to accurately quantify the global properties of the GC systems by measuring them out to large radii. We obtained BVR imaging of four lenticular galaxies (NGC 5866, NGC 4762, NGC 4754, NGC 3384) and one elliptical galaxy (NGC 5813) using the KPNO 4m telescope and MOSAIC imager and traced the GC population to projected galactocentric radii ranging from ~20 kpc to 120 kpc. We combine our imaging with Hubble Space Telescope data to measure the GC surface density close to the galaxy center. We calculate the total number of GCs (N_GC) from the integrated radial profile and find N_GC = 340 +/- 80 for NGC 5866, N_GC = 2900 +/- 400 for NGC 5813, N_GC = 270 +/- 30 for NGC 4762, N_GC = 115 +/- 15$ for NGC 4754, and N_GC = 120 +/- 30 for NGC 3384. The measured GC specific frequencies are S_N between 0.6 and 3.6 and T in the range 0.9 to 4.2. These values are consistent with the mean specific frequencies for the galaxies' morphological types found by our survey and other published data. Three galaxies (NGC 5866, NGC 5813, NGC 4762) had sufficient numbers of GC candidates to investigate color bimodality and color gradients in the GC systems. NGC 5813 shows strong evidence (>3 sigma) for bimodality and a B-R color gradient resulting from a more centrally concentrated red (metal-rich) GC subpopulation. We find no evidence for statistically significant color gradients in the other two galaxies.

GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEMS OF SPIRAL AND S0 GALAXIES: RESULTS FROM WIYN IMAGING OF NGC 1023, NGC 1055, NGC 7332, AND NGC 7339

We present results from a study of the globular cluster (GC) systems of four spiral and S0 galaxies imaged as part of an ongoing wide-field survey of the GC systems of giant galaxies. The target galaxies -- the SB0 galaxy NGC1023, the SBb galaxy NGC1055, and an isolated pair comprised of the Sbc galaxy NGC7339 and the S0 galaxy NGC7332 -- were observed in BVR filters with the WIYN 3.5-m telescope and Minimosaic camera. For two of the galaxies, we combined the WIYN imaging with previously-published data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory to help characterize the GC distribution in the central few kiloparsecs. We determine the radial distribution (surface density of GCs versus projected radius) of each galaxy's GC system and use it to calculate the total number of GCs (N_GC). We find N_GC = 490+/-30, 210+/-40, 175+/-15, and 75+/-10 for NGC1023, NGC1055, NGC7332, and NGC7339, respectively. We also calculate the GC specific frequency (N_GC normalized by host galaxy luminosity or mass) and find values typical of those of the other spiral and E/S0 galaxies in the survey. The two lenticular galaxies have sufficient numbers of GC candidates for us to perform statistical tests for bimodality in the GC color distributions. We find evidence at a high confidence level (>95%) for two populations in the B-R distribution of the GC system of NGC1023. We find weaker evidence for bimodality (>81% confidence) in the GC color distribution of NGC7332. Finally, we identify eight GC candidates that may be associated with the Magellanic dwarf galaxy NGC1023A, a satellite of NGC1023.

12 YEARS OF X-RAY VARIABILITY IN M31 GLOBULAR CLUSTERS, INCLUDING 8 BLACK HOLE CANDIDATES, AS SEEN BYCHANDRA

We examined 134 Chandra observations of the population of X-ray sources associated with globular clusters (GCs) in the central region of M31. These are expected to be X-ray binary systems (XBs), consisting of a neutron star or black hole accreting material from a close companion. We created long-term lightcurves for these sources, correcting for background, interstellar absorption and instrumental effects. We tested for variability by examining the goodness of fit for the best fit constant intensity. We also created structure functions (SFs) for every object in our sample, the first time this technique has been applied to XBs. We found significant variability in 28 out of 34 GCs and GC candidates; the other 6 sources had 0.3--10 keV luminosities fainter than ~2E+36 erg/s, limiting our ability to detect similar variability. The SFs of XBs with 0.3--10 keV luminosities ~2--50 E+36 generally showed considerably more variability than the published ensemble SF of AGN. Our brightest XBs were mostly consistent with the AGN SF; however, their 2--10 keV fluxes could be matched by <1 AGN per square degree. These encouraging results suggest that examining the long term lightcurves of other X-ray sources in the field may provide an important distinction between X-ray binaries and background galaxies, as the X-ray emission spectra from these two classes of X-ray sources are similar. Additionally, we identify 3 new black hole candidates (BHCs) using additional XMM-Newton data, bringing the total number of M31 GC BHCs to 9, with 8 covered in this survey.

The globular cluster system of NGC 1316

NGC 1316 (Fornax A) is a prominent merger remnant in the outskirts of the Fornax cluster. The cluster system has not yet been studied in its entirety. We therefore present a wide-field study of the globular cluster system of NGC 1316, investigating its properties in relation to the global morphology of NGC 1316. We used the MOSAIC II camera at the 4-m Blanco telescope at CTIO in the filters Washington C and Harris R. We identify globular cluster candidates and study their color distribution and the structural properties of the system. In an appendix, we also make morphological remarks, present color maps, and present new models for the brightness and color profiles of the galaxy. The cluster system is well confined to the optically visible outer contours of NGC 1316. The color distribution of the entire sample is unimodal, but the color distribution of bright subsamples in the bulge shows two peaks that, by comparison with theoretical Washington colors with solar metallicity, correspond to ages of about 2 Gyr and 0.8 Gyr, respectively. We also find a significant population of clusters in the color range 0.8 < C-R < 1.1 which must be populated by clusters younger than 0.8 Gyr, unless they are very metal-poor. The color interval 1.3 < C-R < 1.6 hosts the bulk of intermediate-age clusters which show a surface density profile with a sharp decline at about 4 arcmin. The outer cluster population shows an unimodal color distribution with a peak at C-R=1.1, indicating a larger contribution of old, metal-poor clusters. Their luminosity function does not show the expected turn-over, so the fraction of younger clusters is still significant. Cluster formation in NGC 1316 has continued after an initial burst, presumably related to the main merger. A toy model with two bursts of ages 2 Gyr and 0.8 Gyr is consistent with photometric properties and dynamical M/L-values.

EIGHT HUNDRED NEW CANDIDATES FOR GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)

We have used new wide-field imaging with the Magellan IMACS camera to search for globular cluster (GC) candidates around NGC 5128, the nearest giant E galaxy. The imaging data are in the B and R broadband filters and cover a 1.55 deg 2 field centered on the galaxy, corresponding to an area about 90 × 90 kpc 2 at the distance of NGC 5128. All the fields were taken under exceptionally high-quality seeing conditions (FWHM = 0. �� 4–0. 5i nR). Using this material we are able, for the first time in the literature, to construct a homogeneous list of GC candidates covering a wide span of the NGC 5128 halo and unusually free of field contaminants (foreground stars and faint background galaxies). Selecting the measured objects by color, magnitude, ellipticity, and profile size gives us a final catalog of 833 new high-quality GC candidates brighter than R = 21 (0.8 mag fainter than the standard GC luminosity function turnover point). The measured positions have better than 0. 2 precision in both coordinates. This list can be used as the basis for spectroscopic follow-up, leading to a more comprehensive kinematic and dynamic study of the halo.

The globular cluster kinematics and galaxy dark matter content of NGC 3923

This paper presents further results from our spectroscopic study of the globular cluster (GC) system of the group elliptical NGC 3923. From observations made with the GMOS instrument on the Gemini South Telescope, an additional 50 GC and ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) candidates have been spectroscopically confirmed as members of the NGC 3923 system. When the recessional velocities of these GCs are combined with the 29 GC velocities reported previously, a total sample of 79 GC/UCD velocities is produced. This sample extends to over 6 arcmin (> 6 Re∼ 30 kpc) from the centre of NGC 3923 and is used to study the dynamics of the GC system and the dark matter content of NGC 3923. It is found that the GC system of NGC 3923 displays no appreciable rotation, and that the projected velocity dispersion is constant with radius within the uncertainties. The velocity dispersion profiles of the integrated light and GC system of NGC 3923 are indistinguishable over the region in which they overlap. We find some evidence that the diffuse light and GCs of NGC 3923 have radially biased orbits within ∼130 arcsec. The application of axisymmetric orbit-based models to the GC and integrated light velocity dispersion profiles demonstrates that a significant increase in the mass-to-light ratio (from M/LV= 8 to 26) at large galactocentric radii is required to explain this observation. We therefore confirm the presence of a dark matter halo in NGC 3923. We find that dark matter comprises 17.5 per cent of the mass within 1 Re, 41.2 per cent within 2 Re and 75.6 per cent within the radius of our last kinematic tracer at 6.9 Re. The total dynamical mass within this radius is found to be M⊙. In common with other studies of large ellipticals, we find that our derived dynamical mass profile is consistently higher than that derived by X-ray observations, by a factor of around 2.

The detection of globular clusters in galaxies as a data mining problem

We present an application of self-adaptive supervised learning classifiers derived from the machine learning paradigm to the identification of candidate globular clusters in deep, wide-field, single-band Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images. Several methods provided by the DAta Mining and Exploration (DAME) web application were tested and compared on the NGC 1399 HST data described by Paolillo and collaborators in a companion paper. The best results were obtained using a multilayer perceptron with quasi-Newton learning rule which achieved a classification accuracy of 98.3 per cent, with a completeness of 97.8 per cent and contamination of 1.6 per cent. An extensive set of experiments revealed that the use of accurate structural parameters (effective radius, central surface brightness) does improve the final result, but only by ∼5 per cent. It is also shown that the method is capable to retrieve also extreme sources (for instance, very extended objects) which are missed by more traditional approaches.

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPEPHOTOMETRY OF GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN M81

We perform aperture photometry and profile fitting on 419 globular cluster (GC) candidates with mV ⩽ 23 mag identified in Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys BVI imaging, and estimate the effective radii of the clusters. We identify 85 previously known spectroscopically confirmed clusters, and newly identify 136 objects as good cluster candidates within the 3σ color and size ranges defined by the spectroscopically confirmed clusters, yielding a total of 221 probable GCs. The luminosity function peak for the 221 probable GCs with estimated total dereddening applied is V ∼ (20.26 ± 0.13) mag, corresponding to a distance of ∼3.7 ± 0.3 Mpc. The blue and red GC candidates, and the metal-rich and metal-poor spectroscopically confirmed clusters, respectively, are similar in half-light radius. Red confirmed clusters are about 6% larger in median half-light radius than blue confirmed clusters, and red and blue good GC candidates are nearly identical in half-light radius. The total population of confirmed and "good" candidates shows an increase in half-light radius as a function of galactocentric distance.

Three Galactic globular cluster candidates

The census of Galactic globular clusters (GCs) is still incomplete, and about ten new objects are supposed to await discovery, hidden behind the crowded and reddened regions of the Galactic bulge and disk. We investigated the nature of three new GC candidates, discovered in the frames collected by the Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) near-infrared survey. They will be called VVV CL002, VVV CL003, and VVV CL004. We studied the results of point-spread-function near-infrared photometry from VVV data for the three objects and their surrounding fields, the proper motion information available in the literature and, when possible, we derived the cluster parameters by means of calibrated indices measured on the color-magnitude diagrams. The evidence shows that VVV CL002 is a newly discovered, small, moderately metal-rich (Fe/H -0.4) Galactic GC. It is located at a Galactocentric distance of 0.7+-0.9 kpc, and it could be one of the nearest GC to the Galactic center. Its characteristics are more similar to those of low-mass, Palomar-like GCs than to more classical, old, and massive bulge GCs. VVV CL003 is the first star cluster discovered in the Galactic disk on the opposite side of the center with respect to the Sun, at a Galactocentric distance of ~5 kpc. Its high metallicity (Fe/H -0.1) and location point to an open cluster, but a GC cannot be excluded. VVV CL004, on the contrary, is most probably only a random clump of field stars, as indicated by both its low statistical significance and by the impossibility to distinguish its stars from the surrounding field population. We claim the detection of i) a new Galactic GC, deriving an estimate of its basic parameters; ii) a stellar aggregate, probably an open cluster, in the disk directly beyond the Galactic center; and iii) an overdensity of stars, most probably an asterism.

The deepXMM-NewtonSurvey of M 31

Aims. M 31 has been completely imaged for the first time obtaining a luminosity lower limit ~10^35 erg s-1 in the 0.2-4.5 keV band. Our XMM-Newton EPIC survey combines archival observations with observations taken between June 2006 and February 2008. The main goal of the paper is a study of the X-ray source population of M 31. Methods. An X-ray catalogue of 1897 sources was created; 914 were detected for the first time. Source classification and identification were based on X-ray hardness ratios, spatial extent of the sources, and by cross correlating with catalogues in the X-ray, optical, infrared and radio wavelengths. We also analysed the long-term variability of the X-ray sources. Results. Fourteen of the 30 supersoft source candidates represent supersoft emission of optical novae. Many of the 25 supernova remnants (SNRs) and 31 SNR candidates lie within the 10 kpc dust ring and other star forming regions in M 31; this connection between SNRs and star forming regions implies that most of the remnants originate in type II supernovae. The brightest sources in X-rays in M 31 belong to the class of X-ray binaries (XRBs). Ten low mass XRBs (LMXBs) and 26 LMXB candidates were identified based on their temporal variability. In addition 36 LMXBs and 17 LMXB candidates were identified due to correlations with globular clusters and globular cluster candidates. From optical and X-ray colour-colour diagrams, possible high mass XRB (HMXB) candidates were selected. Two of these candidates have an X-ray spectrum as is expected for an HMXB containing a neutron star primary. Conclusions. While our survey has greatly improved our understanding of the X-ray source populations in M 31, at this point 65% of the sources can still only be classified as "hard" sources. Deeper observations in X-ray and at other wavelengths would help classify these sources. ABRIDGED

THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER POPULATION OF NGC 7457: CLUES TO THE EVOLUTION OF FIELD S0 GALAXIES

In this paper we present the results of a wide-field imaging study of the globular cluster (GC) system of the field S0 galaxy NGC 7457. To derive the global properties of the GC system, we obtained deep BVR images with the WIYN 3.5 m telescope and Minimosaic Imager and studied the GC population of NGC 7457 to a projected radius of approximately 30 kpc. Our ground-based data were combined with archival and published Hubble Space Telescope data to probe the properties of the GC system close to the galaxy center and reduce contamination in the GC candidate sample from foreground stars and background galaxies. We performed surface photometry of NGC 7457 and compared the galaxy's surface brightness profile with the surface density profile of the GC system. The profiles have similar shapes in the inner 1 arcminute (3.9 kpc), but the GC system profile appears to flatten relative to the galaxy light at larger radii. The GC system of NGC 7457 is noticeably elliptical in our images; we measure an ellipticity of 0.66 +/- 0.14 for the GC distribution, which is consistent with our measured ellipticity of the galaxy light. We integrated the radial surface density profile of the GC system to derive a total number of GCs N_GC = 210 +/- 30. The GC specific frequency normalized by the galaxy luminosity and mass are S_N = 3.1 +/- 0.7 and T = 4.8 +/- 1.1, respectively. Comparing the derived GC system properties and other empirical data for NGC 7457 to S0 formation scenarios suggests that this field S0 galaxy may have formed in an unequal-mass merger.