Globular cluster systems of six shell galaxies

Sikkema, Gert; Peletier, Reynier F.; Carter, D.; Valentijn, E. A.; Balcells, M.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20054606

Cited by 34 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 109 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The background-corrected histograms reveal that most of the GC candidates with colors (g − i ) 0 0.7 can be accounted for as part of the contamination, except for NGC 2865 and especially NGC 4240, where a significant number of blue sources remain. The blue population in NGC 2865 is consistent with the results of Sikkema et al (2006), who proposed the existence of a population of young clusters. Visually, the clearest case for bimodality can be seen in the IC 4889 color histogram, which contradicts the result of Gebhardt & Kissler-Patig (1999), who found no evidence of bimodality in the GCS of this galaxy.…”

Section: Gc Color Distributionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…It presents a remarkably steep age gradient from a central ∼1.5 Gyr (Sánchez-Blázquez et al 2007;Reda et al 2007) to ∼10 Gyr close to 1R e ; it also has a steep metallicity gradient (Reda et al 2007). Its GCS was studied by Sikkema et al (2006) using HST/ACS, finding a sizeable blue population consistent with a young-to-intermediate GC population (see also Trancho et al 2014). -NGC 3962 is part of the sample of Smith et al (2004) of field ellipticals without companions, as confirmed by Madore et al (2004), and no signs of any tidal disturbance (Tal et al 2009).…”

Section: Galaxy Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

“…2 as large black points, while resolved sources are depicted will small black dots. Globular cluster candidates were further limited to the color range 0.4 < (g − i) 0 < 1.4, following previous GCS studies with the same filters Wehner et al 2008;Faifer et al 2011), but with a slightly bluer limit to allow studying possible younger clusters (as in NGC 2685 Sikkema et al 2006). The bright limit was fixed at M i = −11.5 following Faifer et al (2011), and the faint limit was given by the 80% completeness limit in both g and i.…”

Section: Gc Color Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems

Salinas

Alabi

Richtler

2015

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As tracers of star formation, galaxy assembly, and mass distribution, globular clusters have provided important clues to our understanding of early-type galaxies. But their study has been mostly constrained to galaxy groups and clusters where early-type galaxies dominate, leaving the properties of the globular cluster systems (GCSs) of isolated ellipticals as a mostly uncharted territory. We present Gemini-South/GMOS g i observations of five isolated elliptical galaxies: NGC 3962, NGC 2865, IC 4889, NGC 2271, and NGC 4240. Photometry of their GCSs reveals clear color bimodality in three of them, but remains inconclusive for the other two. All the studied GCSs are rather poor with a mean specific frequency S N ∼ 1.5, independently of the parent galaxy luminosity. Considering information from previous work as well, it is clear that bimodality and especially the presence of a significant, even dominant, population of blue clusters occurs at even the most isolated systems, which casts doubts on a possible accreted origin of metal-poor clusters, as suggested by some models. Additionally, we discuss the possible existence of ultra-compact dwarfs around the isolated elliptical NGC 3962.

show abstract

Section: Gc Color Distributionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Galaxy Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gc Color Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems

Salinas

Alabi

Richtler

2015

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Several observational studies also support this formation scenario (e.g. Whitmore et al 1993;Sikkema et al 2006;Trancho et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Globular Clusters as Tracers of Fine Structure in the Dramatic Shell Galaxy NGC 474

Lim

Peng

Duc

et al. 2017

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globular clusters (GCs) are some of the most visible tracers of the merging and accretion history of galaxy halos. Metal-poor GCs, in particular, are thought to arrive in massive galaxies largely through dry, minor merging events, but it is rare to see a direct connection between GCs and visible stellar streams. NGC 474 is a post-merger early-type galaxy with dramatic fine structures made of concentric shells and radial streams that have been more clearly revealed by deep imaging. We present a study of GCs in NGC 474 to better establish the relationship between merger-induced fine structure and the GC system. We find that many GCs are superimposed on visible streams and shells, and about 35% of GCs outside 3R e,galaxy are located in regions of fine structure. The spatial correlation between the GCs and fine structure is significant at the 99.9% level, showing that this correlation is not coincidental. The colors of the GCs on the fine structures are mostly blue, and we also find an intermediate-color population that is dominant in the central region, and which will likely passively evolve to have colors consistent with a traditional metal-rich GC population. The association of the blue GCs with fine structures is direct confirmation that many metal-poor GCs are accreted onto massive galaxy halos through merging events, and that progenitors of these mergers are sub-L ⋆ galaxies.

show abstract

“…Since the seminal review by Harris & Racine (1979) an enormous amount of work has been devoted to GCS identification in external galaxies and study of their properties. Regarding the GCS radial profiles, we recall, for the sake of example, recent papers of Bassino et al (2006), Goudfrooij et al (2007), Lee et al (2008), Rhode et al (2007), Sikkema et al (2006), Spitler et al (2006), Spitler et al (2008), Rhode & Zepf (2003), Peng et al (2004) and Harris et al (2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Globular cluster system erosion in elliptical galaxies

Capuzzo–Dolcetta¹,

Mastrobuono-Battisti

2009

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context. We analyse data of 8 elliptical galaxies to study the difference between the radial distributions of their globular cluster systems (GCSs) and their galactic stellar component. In all galaxies studied, the GCS density profile is significantly flatter towards the galactic centre than that of the stars. Aims. A flatter profile of the radial distribution of the GCS with respect to that of the galactic stellar component is a difference with astrophysical relevance. A quantitative comparative analysis of the profiles may provide insight into both galaxy and globular cluster formation and evolution. If the difference is caused by erosion of the GCS, the missing GCs in the galactic central region may have merged around the galactic centre and formed, or at least increased in mass, the galactic nucleus. Observational support to this are the correlations between the galaxy integrated absolute magnitude and the number of globular clusters lost and that between the central massive black hole mass and the total mass of globular clusters lost. Methods. We fitted both the stellar and globular cluster system radial profiles of a set of galaxies observed at high resolution. We found that the GCS profile is less sharply peaked at the galactic centre than the stellar one. Assuming that this difference is caused by GCS evolution, starting from a radial distribution initially indistinguishable from that of stars, we can evaluate by a simple normalization procedure the number (and mass) of GCs that have "disappeared". Results. The number of missing globular clusters is significant, ranging from 21% to 71% of their initial population abundance in the eight galaxies examined. The corresponding mass lost to the central galactic region is (for every galaxy of the sample) in the 2.77 × 10 7 -1.58 × 10 9 M interval. All the transported mass towards the central galactic regions have had probably an important effect on the innermost galactic zone, including its violent transient activity (AGN) and local massive black hole formation and growth.

show abstract

Globular cluster systems of six shell galaxies

Cited by 34 publications

References 109 publications

Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems

Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems

Globular Clusters as Tracers of Fine Structure in the Dramatic Shell Galaxy NGC 474

Globular cluster system erosion in elliptical galaxies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About