Globular Clusters in Coma Galaxy NGC 4881

Baum, W. A.; Hammergren, M.; Groth, Edward J.; Ajhar, Edward A.; Lauer, Tod R.; O'Neil, Earl J.; Lynds, C. R.; Faber, S. M.; Grillmair, Carl J.; Holtzman, Jon A.; Light, R. M.

doi:10.1086/117710

Cited by 34 publications

(33 citation statements)

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“…We therefore scale up the observed number by a factor of 9. With M t V = −21.46 (Table 1) we then obtain S N = 0.77 ± 0.21, in very good agreement with the earlier estimate of S N ∼ 1.0 by Baum et al (1995). This strikingly low−S N value is at the bottom end of the observed range for any type of E galaxy, regardless of luminosity or environment.…”

Section: Total Populations and Specific Frequencysupporting

confidence: 89%

The Globular Cluster Systems in the Coma Ellipticals. Iv: Wfpc2 Photometry for Five Giant Ellipticals ,

Harris

Kavelaars

Hanes

et al. 2009

The Astronomical Journal

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We analyze photometric data in V and I for the globular cluster (GC) systems in five of the giant ellipticals in the Coma Cluster: NGC 4874, 4881, 4889, 4926, and IC 4051. All of the raw data, from the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Archive, are analyzed in a homogeneous way so that their five cluster systems can be strictly intercompared. We find that the GC luminosity functions are quite similar to one another and reinforce the common nature of the mass distribution of old, massive star clusters in gE galaxies. The GCLF turnover derived from a composite sample of more than 9, 000 GCs appears at V = 27.71 ± 0.07 (M V = −7.3), and our data reach about half a magnitude fainter Institute, which is operated by the Association

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Section: Total Populations and Specific Frequencysupporting

confidence: 89%

The Globular Cluster Systems in the Coma Ellipticals. Iv: Wfpc2 Photometry for Five Giant Ellipticals ,

Harris

Kavelaars

Hanes

et al. 2009

The Astronomical Journal

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“…The contribution to the SBF flux from unmasked GCs and background galaxies is calculated as ∆f = (Q GC n GC + Q g n g )f 2 GC /g, where g is the mean galaxy flux per pixel. There are 13 detected GCs inside the annulus [3 ′′ , 5 ′′ ], and we expect only about 0.5 background galaxies brighter than detection threshold within the same annulus (Baum et al 1995). Using these values we find that we must decrease the measured SBF flux by ∆f = (2.26 ± 0.60)10 −3 DN.…”

Section: The Sbf Methodsmentioning

confidence: 84%

The Distance to the Coma Cluster from Surface Brightness Fluctuations

Thomsen

Baum

Hammergren

et al. 1997

The Astrophysical Journal

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We report on the first determination of the distance to the Coma Cluster based on surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) measurements obtained from Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 observations of the bright E0 galaxy NGC 4881 in the Coma Cluster and ground-based observations of the standard E1 galaxy NGC 3379 in the Leo-I group. Relative distances based on the I-band fluctuation magnitude, I(SBF), are strongly dependent on metallicity and age of the stellar population. However, the radial changes in the stellar populations of the two giant ellipticals, NGC 3379 and NGC 4881, are well described by published Mg_2 gradients, and the ground-based measurements of I(SBF) at several radial points in NGC 3379 are used to calibrate I(SBF) in terms of the Mg_2 index. The distance to NGC 3379, assumed to be identical to the average SBF distance of the Leo-I group, is combined with the new SBF measurements of NGC 4881 to obtain a Coma Cluster distance of 102+-14 Mpc. Combining this distance with the cosmic recession velocity of Coma (7186+-428 km/s), we find the Hubble constant to be H_0 = 71+-11 km/s/Mpc.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, includes aaspp4.sty and 3 eps figures. To appear in ApJ Letter

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“…Alternative GCLF fitting functional forms for the MW and M31 cluster distributions include for example Cauchy and t distribution (Secker 1992), GaussHermite expansions (Abraham and van den Bergh 1995) and a piecewise exponential fit (McLaughlin 1994;Baum et al 1995). Secker (1992) used a maximumlikelihood estimate to demonstrate that the best fit to the MW and M31 GCLFs is obtained with the t 5 distribution in the following form:…”

Section: The Gclf Distance Determination Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Globular cluster luminosity function as distance indicator

Rejkuba¹

2012

Astrophys Space Sci

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Globular cluster luminosity function as distance indicatorM. Rejkuba 1 Globular clusters are among the first objects used to establish the distance scale of the Universe. In the 1970-ies it has been recognized that the differential magnitude distribution of old globular clusters is very similar in different galaxies presenting a peak at M V ∼ −7.5. This peak magnitude of the so-called Globular Cluster Luminosity Function has been then established as a secondary distance indicator. The intrinsic accuracy of the method has been estimated to be of the order of ∼ 0.2 mag, competitive with other distance determination methods. Lately the study of the Globular Cluster Systems has been used more as a tool for galaxy formation and evolution, and less so for distance determinations. Nevertheless, the collection of homogeneous and large datasets with the ACS on board HST presented new insights on the usefulness of the Globular Cluster Luminosity Function as distance indicator. I discuss here recent results based on observational and theoretical studies, which show that this distance indicator depends on complex physics of the cluster formation and dynamical evolution, and thus can have dependencies on Hubble type, environment and dynamical history of the host galaxy. While the corrections are often relatively small, they can amount to important systematic differences that make the Globular Cluster Luminosity Function a less accurate distance indicator with respect to some other standard candles.

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Globular Clusters in Coma Galaxy NGC 4881

Cited by 34 publications

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The Globular Cluster Systems in the Coma Ellipticals. Iv: Wfpc2 Photometry for Five Giant Ellipticals ,

The Globular Cluster Systems in the Coma Ellipticals. Iv: Wfpc2 Photometry for Five Giant Ellipticals ,

The Distance to the Coma Cluster from Surface Brightness Fluctuations

Globular cluster luminosity function as distance indicator

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