Globular Cluster Subpopulations Research Articles

The galactic acceleration scale is imprinted on globular cluster systems of early-type galaxies of most masses and on red and blue globular cluster subpopulations

Context. Globular clusters (GCs) carry information about the formation histories and gravitational fields of their host galaxies. It was found before that the radial profiles of the volume number density of GCs in GC systems (GCSs) follow broken power laws, while the breaks occur approximately at the a0 radii. These are the radii at which the gravitational fields of the galaxies equal the galactic acceleration scale a0 = 1.2 × 10−10 m s−2 known from the radial acceleration relation or the MOND theory of modified dynamics. Aims. Our main goals here are to explore whether the above results hold true for galaxies of a wider mass range and for the red and blue GC subpopulations. Methods. We exploited catalogs of photometric GC candidates in the Fornax galaxy cluster based on ground and space observations and a new catalog of spectroscopic GCs of NGC 1399, the central galaxy of the cluster. For every galaxy, we obtained the parameters of the broken power-law density by fitting the on-sky distribution of the GC candidates, while allowing for a constant density of contaminants. The logarithmic stellar masses of our galaxy sample span 8.0 − 11.4 M⊙. Results. All investigated GCSs with a sufficient number of members show broken power-law density profiles. This holds true for the total GC population and the blue and red subpopulations. The inner and outer slopes and the break radii agree well for the different GC populations. The break radii agree with the a0 radii typically within a factor of two for all GC color subpopulations. The outer slopes correlate better with the a0 radii than with the galactic stellar masses. The break radii of NGC 1399 vary in azimuth, such that they are greater toward and against the direction to NGC 1404, which tidally interacts with NGC 1399.

New Velocity Measurements of NGC 5128 Globular Clusters Out to 130 kpc: Outer Halo Kinematics, Substructure, and Dynamics* * This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

We present new radial velocity measurements from the Magellan and the Anglo-Australian Telescopes for 175 previously known and 121 newly confirmed globular clusters (GCs) around NGC 5128, the nearest accessible massive early-type galaxy at D = 3.8 Mpc. Remarkably, 28 of these newly confirmed GCs are at projected radii (≳54 kpc), extending to ∼130 kpc, in the outer halo where few GCs had been confirmed in previous work. We identify several subsets of GCs that spatially trace halo substructures that are visible in red giant branch star maps of the galaxy. In some cases, these subsets of GCs are kinematically cold, and may be directly associated with and originate from these specific stellar substructures. From a combined kinematic sample of 645 GCs, we see evidence for coherent rotation at all radii, with a higher rotation amplitude for the metal-rich GC subpopulation. Using the tracer mass estimator, we measure a total enclosed mass of 2.5 ± 0.3 × 1012 M ⊙ within ∼120 kpc, an estimate that will be sharpened with forthcoming dynamical modeling. The combined power of stellar mapping and GC kinematics makes NGC 5128 an ongoing keystone for understanding galaxy assembly at mass scales inaccessible in the Local Group.

A trail of the invisible: blue globular clusters trace the radial density distribution of the dark matter – case study of NGC 4278

ABSTRACTWe present new, deep optical observations of the early-type galaxy NGC 4278, which is located in a small loose group. We find that the galaxy lacks fine substructure, that is, it appears relaxed, out to a radius of ∼70 kpc. Our g- and i-band surface brightness profiles are uniform down to our deepest levels of ∼28 mag arcsec−2. This spans an extremely large radial range of more than 14 half-mass radii. Combined with archival globular cluster (GC) number density maps and a new analysis of the total mass distribution obtained from archival Chandra X-ray data, we find that the red GC subpopulation traces well the stellar mass density profile from 2.4 out to even 14 half-mass radii, while the blue GC subpopulation traces the total mass density profile of the galaxy over a large radial range. Our results reinforce the scenario that red GCs form mostly in situ along with the stellar component of the galaxy, while the blue GCs are more closely aligned with the total mass distribution in the halo and were accreted along with halo matter. We conclude that for galaxies where the X-ray emission from the hot halo is too faint to be properly observable and as such is not available to measure the dark matter profile, the blue GC population can be used to trace this dark matter component out to large radii.

Chemo-dynamical substructure in the M31 inner halo globular clusters: further evidence for a recent accretion event

ABSTRACT Based upon a metallicity selection, we identify a significant subpopulation of the inner halo globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy, which we name the Dulais Structure. It is distinguished as a co-rotating group of 10–20 globular clusters that appear to be kinematically distinct from, and on average more metal-poor than, the majority of the inner halo population. Intriguingly, the orbital axis of this Dulais Structure is closely aligned with that of the younger accretion event recently identified using a subpopulation of globular clusters in the outer halo of Andromeda, and this is strongly suggestive of a causal relationship between the two. If this connection is confirmed, a natural explanation for the kinematics of the globular clusters in the Dulais Structure is that they trace the accretion of a substantial progenitor (∼1011 M⊙) into the halo of Andromeda during the last few billion years, which may have occurred as part of a larger group infall.

Nonlinear Color–Metallicity Relations of Globular Clusters. XI. Nonlinearity Effect Revealed by NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) and NGC 4594 (Sombrero) Galaxies

Metallicity distributions (MDs) of globular clusters (GCs) provide crucial clues for the assembly and star formation history of their host galaxies. GC colors, when GCs are old, have been used as a proxy of GC metallicities. Bimodal GC color distributions (CDs) observed in most early-type galaxies have been interpreted as bimodal MDs for decades, suggesting the presence of merely two GC subpopulations within single galaxies. However, the conventional view has been challenged by a new theory that nonlinear metallicity-to-color conversion can cause bimodal CDs from unimodal MDs. The unimodal MDs seem natural given that MDs involved many thousand protogalaxies. The new theory has been tested and corroborated by various observational and theoretical studies. Here we examine the nonlinear nature of GC color−metallicity relations (CMRs) using photometric and spectroscopic GC data of NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) and NGC 4594 (Sombrero), in comparison with stellar population simulations. We find that, with a slight offset in color, the overall shapes of observed and modeled CMRs agree well for all available colors. Diverse color-depending morphologies of GC CDs of the two galaxies are well reproduced based on their observed spectroscopic MDs via our CMR models. The results corroborate the nonlinear CMR interpretation of the GC color bimodality, shedding further light on theories of galaxy formation.

The SLUGGS survey: combining stars, globular clusters, and planetary nebulae to understand the assembly history of early-type galaxies from their large radii kinematics

ABSTRACT We investigate the kinematic properties of nine nearby early-type galaxies with evidence of a disc-like component. Three of these galaxies are located in the field, five in the group, and only one in the cluster environment. By combining the kinematics of the stars with those of the globular clusters (GCs) and planetary nebulae (PNe), we probe the outer regions of our galaxies out to $\sim 4\!-\!6\, R_{\mathrm{e}}$. Six galaxies have PNe and red GCs that show good kinematic alignment with the stars, whose rotation occurs along the photometric major-axis of the galaxies, suggesting that both the PNe and red GCs are good tracers of the underlying stellar population beyond that traced by the stars. Additionally, the blue GCs also show rotation that is overall consistent with that of the red GCs in these six galaxies. The remaining three galaxies show kinematic twists and misalignment of the PNe and GCs with respect to the underlying stars, suggesting recent galaxy interactions. From the comparison with simulations, we propose that all six aligned galaxies that show similar dispersion-dominated kinematics at large radii ($\gt 2\!-\!3\, R_{\mathrm{e}}$) had similar late (z ≲ 1) assembly histories characterized by mini mergers (mass-ratio < 1:10). The different Vrot/σ profiles are then the result of an early (z > 1) minor merger (1:10 < mass-ratio < 1:4) for the four galaxies with peaked and decreasing Vrot/σ profiles and of a late minor merger for the two galaxies with flat Vrot/σ profiles. The three misaligned galaxies likely formed through multiple late minor mergers that enhanced their velocity dispersion at all radii, or a late major merger that spun-up both the GC subpopulations at large radii. Therefore, lenticular galaxies can have complex merger histories that shape their characteristic kinematic profile shapes.

A Complex Luminosity Function for the Anomalous Globular Clusters in NGC 1052-DF2 and NGC 1052-DF4

Abstract NGC 1052-DF2 and NGC 1052-DF4 are ultradiffuse galaxies that have extremely low velocity dispersions, indicating that they have little or no dark matter. Both galaxies host anomalously luminous globular clusters (GCs), with a peak magnitude of their GC luminosity function (GCLF) that is ∼1.5 mag brighter than the near-universal value of M V ≈ −7.5. Here we present an analysis of the joint GCLF of the two galaxies, making use of new Hubble Space Telescope photometry and Keck spectroscopy and a recently improved distance measurement. We apply a homogeneous photometric selection method to the combined GC sample of DF2 and DF4. The new analysis shows that the peak of the combined GCLF remains at M V ≈ −9 mag. In addition, we find a subpopulation of less luminous GCs at M V ≈ −7.5 mag, where the near-universal GCLF peak is located. The number of GCs in the magnitude range of −5 to −8 is in DF2 and in DF4, similar to that expected from other galaxies of the same luminosity. The total GC number between M V of −5 and −11 is for DF2 and for DF4, calculated from the background-subtracted GCLF. The data are consistent with both galaxies having two GC populations: the one expected for their luminosity, and a very luminous population composing ∼90% of the total cluster mass. The number of GCs does not scale with the halo mass in either DF2 or DF4, suggesting that N GC is not directly determined by the merging of halos.

Mysterious Globular Cluster System of the Peculiar Massive Galaxy M85

Abstract We present a study on the stellar population and kinematics of globular clusters (GCs) in the peculiar galaxy M85. We obtain optical spectra of 89 GCs at 8 kpc < R < 160 kpc using the MMT/Hectospec. We divide them into three groups, blue/green/red GCs (B/G/RGCs), with their (g − i)0 colors. All GC subpopulations have mean ages of about 10 Gyr, but showing differences in metallicities. The BGCs and RGCs are the most metal-poor ([Z/H] ∼ −1.49) and metal-rich ([Z/H] ∼ −0.45), respectively, and the GGCs are in between. We find that the inner GC system exhibits a strong overall rotation that is entirely due to a disklike rotation of the RGC system. The BGC system shows little rotation. The GGCs show kinematic properties clearly distinct among the GC subpopulations, having higher mean velocities than the BGCs and RGCs and being aligned along the major axis of M85. This implies that the GGCs have an origin different from the other GC subpopulations. The rotation-corrected velocity dispersion of the RGC system is much lower than that of the BGC system, indicating the truncation of the red halo of M85. The BGCs have a flat velocity dispersion profile out to R = 67 kpc, reflecting the dark matter extent of M85. Using the velocity dispersion of the BGC system, we estimate the dynamical mass of M85 to be 3.8 × 1012 M ⊙. We infer that M85 has undergone merging events lately, resulting in the peculiar kinematics of the GC system.

The Assembly History of M87 through Radial Variations in Chemical Abundances of Its Field Star and Globular Cluster Populations

Abstract We present an extensive study of spectroscopically derived chemical abundances for M87 and its globular cluster (GC) system. Using observations from the Mitchell spectrograph at McDonald, LRIS at Keck, and Hectospec on the MMT, we derive new metallicity gradients from ∼2 to 140 kpc. We use a novel hierarchical statistical framework to simultaneously separate the GC system into subpopulations while measuring the metallicity gradients of those subpopulations. We create physically motivated spectral stacks of the GC subpopulations by leveraging the output of this statistical framework to perform the first application of abundance tagging in a massive early-type galaxy to better constrain the origins of the GC subpopulations and thus the assembly history of M87. We find a metal-poor, α-enhanced population of GCs in both the inner and outer halos unanticipated by current cosmological simulations of galaxy evolution. We use the remarkably flat metallicity gradients we find for both the metal-rich and metal-poor GC subpopulations in the inner halo as tentative evidence that some amount of the metal-poor GCs formed directly in the halo of M87 at high redshift.

Formation histories of stars, clusters, and globular clusters in the E-MOSAICS simulations

The formation histories of globular clusters (GCs) are a key diagnostic for understanding their relation to the evolution of the Universe through cosmic time. We use the suite of 25 cosmological zoom-in simulations of present-day Milky Way-mass galaxies from the E-MOSAICS project to study the formation histories of stars, clusters, and GCs, and how these are affected by the environmental dependence of the cluster formation physics. We find that the median lookback time of GC formation in these galaxies is ${\sim}10.73~$Gyr ($z=2.1$), roughly $2.5~$Gyr earlier than that of the field stars (${\sim}8.34~$Gyr or $z=1.1$). The epoch of peak GC formation is mainly determined by the time evolution of the maximum cluster mass, which depends on the galactic environment and largely increases with the gas pressure. Different metallicity subpopulations of stars, clusters and GCs present overlapping formation histories, implying that star and cluster formation represent continuous processes. The metal-poor GCs ($-2.5<[\rm Fe/H]<-1.5$) of our galaxies are older than the metal-rich GC subpopulation ($-1.0<[\rm Fe/H]<-0.5$), forming $12.13~$Gyr and $10.15~$Gyr ago ($z=3.7$ and $z=1.8$), respectively. The median ages of GCs are found to decrease gradually with increasing metallicity, which suggests different GC metallicity subpopulations do not form independently and their spatial and kinematic distributions are the result of their evolution in the context of hierarchical galaxy formation and evolution. We predict that proto-GC formation is most prevalent at $2\lesssim z \lesssim 3$, which could be tested with observations of lensed galaxies using JWST.

Globular cluster system of NGC 3613, a massive elliptical galaxy in a poor environment

AbstractWe present an analysis of the globular cluster system (GCS) of the galaxy NGC 3613, an intrinsically bright elliptical galaxy (MV = −21.5) in a low density environment (it is the central galaxy of a group of a dozen galaxies). Based on Gemini/GMOS photometry of NGC 3613 we obtained the following properties for this GCS. A ‘blue tilt’ is detected in the colour-magnitude diagram. The colour distribution is bimodal, presenting the two classical globular cluster (GC) sub-populations. The spatial and azimuthal projected distributions show that red sub-population correlates with the stellar component of the host galaxy.

Three candidate globular clusters discovered in the Galactic bulge

ABSTRACT This work reports the discovery of three new globular clusters (GCs) towards the Galactic bulge – Camargo 1107, 1108, and 1109. The discovery was made using the WISE, 2MASS, VVV, and Gaia-DR2 photometry. The new findings are old (12.0−13.5 Gyr) and metal-poor GCs ([Fe/H] &amp;lt; −1.5 dex) located in the bulge area close to the Milky Way (MW) mid-plane. Although the old ages and low metallicities suggest that the newly discovered GCs are likely associated with the inner halo, the possibility of these clusters being part of a primordial bulge GC subpopulation cannot be ruled out. Camargo 1107, for instance, presents a metallicity of [Fe/H] = −2.2 ± 0.4 dex and an age of 13.5 ± 2 Gyr, which may suggest that this cluster formed just after the big bang in the very early Universe. The discovery of GCs such as the new findings is crucial to built a coherent picture of the inner Galaxy. It is likely that at least a few more dozens of GCs are still to be discovered in the bulge.

The SLUGGS Survey: The Inner Dark Matter Density Slope of the Massive Elliptical Galaxy NGC 1407

Abstract We investigate the dark matter density profile of the massive elliptical galaxy, NGC 1407, by constructing spherically symmetric Jeans models of its field star and globular cluster systems. Two major challenges in such models are the degeneracy between the stellar mass and the dark matter halo profiles, and the degeneracy between the orbital anisotropy of the tracer population and the total mass causing the observed motions. We address the first issue by using new measurements of the mass-to-light ratio profile from stellar population constraints that include a radially varying initial mass function. To mitigate the mass–anisotropy degeneracy, we make use of multiple kinematic tracers, including two subpopulations of globular clusters in addition to the galaxy’s field stars. We create a hierarchical Bayesian model that addresses several often-neglected systematic uncertainties, such as the statistical weight given to various data sets and the adopted distance. After sampling the posterior probability distribution with a Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we find evidence for a central cusp with a log slope of , with the quantified systematic uncertainty dominated by choice of anisotropy profile. This is lower than expected for dark matter halos that have undergone adiabatic contraction, supporting inferences from gravitational lensing that some process has suppressed the steepening of halos in massive galaxies. We also confirm radially biased orbits for the metal-rich globular clusters and tangentially biased orbits for the metal-poor globular clusters, which remains a puzzling finding for an accretion-dominated halo.

Metallicity gradients in the globular cluster systems of early-type galaxies: in situ and accreted components?

Massive early-type galaxies typically have two subpopulations of globular clusters (GCs) which often reveal radial colour (metallicity) gradients. Collating gradients from the literature, we show that the gradients in the metal-rich and metal-poor GC subpopulations are the same, within measurement uncertainties, in a given galaxy. Furthermore, these GC gradients are similar in strength to the {\it stellar} metallicity gradient of the host galaxy. At the very largest radii (e.g. greater than 8 galaxy effective radii) there is some evidence that the GC gradients become flat with near constant mean metallicity. Using stellar metallicity gradients as a proxy, we probe the assembly histories of massive early-type galaxies with hydrodynamical simulations from the Magneticum suite of models. In particular, we measure the stellar metallicity gradient for the in-situ and accreted components over a similar radial range as those observed for GC subpopulations. We find that the in-situ and accreted stellar metallicity gradients are similar but have a larger scatter than the metal-rich and metal-poor GC subpopulations gradients in a given galaxy. We conclude that although metal-rich GCs are predominately formed during the in-situ phase and metal-poor GCs during the accretion phase of massive galaxy formation, they do not have a strict one-to-one connection.

Tracing the assembly history of NGC 1395 through its Globular Cluster System

We used deep Gemini-South/GMOS g'r'i'z' images to study the globular cluster (GC) system of the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 1395, located in the Eridanus supergroup. The photometric analysis of the GC candidates reveals a clear colour bimodality distribution, indicating the presence of "blue" and "red" GC subpopulations. While a negative radial colour gradient is detected in the projected spatial distribution of the red GCs, the blue GCs display a shallow colour gradient. The blue GCs also display a remarkable shallow and extended surface density profile, suggesting a significant accretion of low-mass satellites in the outer halo of the galaxy. In addition, the slope of the projected spatial distribution of the blue GCs in the outer regions of the galaxy, is similar to that of the X-ray halo emission. Integrating up to 165 kpc the profile of the projected spatial distribution of the GCs, we estimated a total GC population and specific frequency of 6000$\pm$1100 and $S_N$=7.4$\pm$1.4, respectively. Regarding NGC 1395 itself, the analysis of the deep Gemini/GMOS images shows a low surface brightness umbrella-like structure indicating, at least, one recent merger event. Through relations recently published in the literature, we obtained global parameters, such as $M_\mathrm{stellar}=9.32\times10^{11}$ M$\odot$ and $M_h=6.46\times10^{13}$ M$\odot$. Using public spectroscopic data, we derive stellar population parameters of the central region of the galaxy by the full spectral fitting technique. We have found that, this region, seems to be dominated for an old stellar population, in contrast to findings of young stellar populations from the literature.

One Piece at a Time—Adding to the Puzzle of S0 Formation

Understanding the origin of galaxies remains a topic of debate in the current astronomy. In this work, we have focused on lenticular (S0) galaxies located in low-density environments, using their associated globular cluster (GC) systems as a tool. Initially, we have started the study of three S0 galaxies—NGC 2549, NGC 3414 and NGC 5838—using photometric data in several filters obtained with the GMOS camera mounted on the Gemini North telescope. The different GC systems, as well as their host galaxies, have shown particular features, such as multiple GC subpopulations and low-brightness substructures. These pieces of evidence show that the mentioned galaxies have suffered several merger/interaction events, even the accretion of satellite companions, probably causing their current morphologies.

A deeper look at the X-ray point source population of NGC 4472

In this paper we discuss the X-ray point source population of NGC 4472, an elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster. We used recent deep Chandra data combined with archival Chandra data to obtain a 380 ks exposure time. We find 238 X-ray point sources within 3.7' of the galaxy centre, with a completeness flux, F(X,0.5-2 keV)= 6.3x$10^{-16}$ $erg s^{-1} cm^{-2}$. Most of these sources are expected to be low mass X-ray binaries. We finding that, using data from a single galaxy which is both complete and has a large number of objects (~ 100) below 10$^{38}$ $erg s^{-1}$, the X-ray luminosity function is well fit with a single power law model. By cross matching our X-ray data with both space based and ground based optical data for NGC 4472, we find that 80 of the 238 sources are in globular clusters. We compare the red and blue globular cluster subpopulations and find red clusters are nearly six times more likely to host an X-ray source than blue clusters. We show that there is evidence that these two subpopulations have significantly different X-ray luminosity distributions. Source catalogues for all X-ray point sources, as well as any corresponding optical data for globular cluster sources, are also presented here.

Globular cluster systems as tracers of the evolutionary history in NGC 3258 and NGC 3268

We present a new photometric study of NGC 3258 and NGC 3268 globular cluster systems (GCSs), using images in filters $B,C,V,R,I$ and $z'$, obtained from four different telescopes. The wide spatial coverage allow us to estimate the whole extension of both GCSs more precisely than in previous works, and new values for the richness of GCs subpopulations. We find differences in the azimuthal distribution between blue (metal-poor) and red (metal-rich) globular clusters (GCs), and confirm that radial profiles flatten towards the centre of the galaxies. In both cases we detected a radial gradient in the colour peak of blue GCs which might be related to the construction of the GCSs. We analyse the similarities and differences in both GCSs, in the context of the posible evolutionary histories of the host galaxies. We also obtain photometric metallicities for a large number of GC candidates around NGC 3258, by applying multicolour-metallicity relations. These results confirm the bimodal metallicity distribution.

The SLUGGS survey: exploring the globular cluster systems of the Leo II group and their global relationships

We present an investigation of the globular cluster (GC) systems of NGC 3607 and NGC 3608 as part of the ongoing SLUGGS survey. We use wide-field imaging data from the Subaru telescope in the g, r, and i filters to analyse the radial density, colour and azimuthal distributions of both GC systems. With the complementary kinematic data obtained from the Keck II telescope, we measure the radial velocities of a total of 81 GCs. Our results show that the GC systems of NGC 3607 and NGC 3608 have a detectable spatial extent of ~ 15, and 13 galaxy effective radii, respectively. Both GC systems show a clear bimodal colour distribution. We detect a significant radial colour gradient for the GC subpopulations in both galaxies. NGC 3607 exhibits an overabundance of red GCs on the galaxy minor axis and NGC 3608 shows a misalignment in the GC subpopulation position angles with respect to the galaxy stellar component. With the aid of literature data, we discuss several relationships between the properties of GC systems and their host galaxies. A one-to-one relation between the ellipticities of red GCs and the galaxy stellar light emphasises the evolutionary similarities between them. In our sample of four slowly rotating galaxies with kinematically decoupled cores, we observe a higher ellipticity for the blue GC subpopulation than their red counterparts. Also, we notice the flattening of negative colour gradients for the blue GC subpopulations with increasing galaxy stellar mass. Finally, we discuss the formation scenarios associated with the blue GC subpopulation.

The SLUGGS survey: globular clusters and the dark matter content of early-type galaxies

Abstract A strong correlation exists between the total mass of a globular cluster (GC) system and the virial halo mass of the host galaxy. However, the total halo mass in this correlation is a statistical measure conducted on spatial scales that are some 10 times that of a typical GC system. Here we investigate the connection between GC systems and galaxy's dark matter on comparable spatial scales, using dynamical masses measured on a galaxy-by-galaxy basis. Our sample consists of 17 well-studied massive (∼1011 M⊙) early-type galaxies from the SLUGGS survey. We find the strongest correlation to be that of the blue (metal-poor) GC subpopulation and the dark matter content. This correlation implies that the dark matter mass of a galaxy can be estimated to within a factor of 2 from careful imaging of its GC system. The ratio of the GC system mass to that of the enclosed dark matter is nearly constant. We also find a strong correlation between the fraction of blue GCs and the fraction of enclosed dark matter, so that a typical galaxy with a blue GC fraction of 60 per cent has a dark matter fraction of 86 per cent over similar spatial scales. Both halo growth and removal (via tidal stripping) may play some role in shaping this trend. In the context of the two-phase model for galaxy formation, we find galaxies with the highest fractions of accreted stars to have higher dark matter fractions for a given fraction of blue GCs.