No Arabic abstract
The present-day globular cluster populations of galaxies reflect the cumulative effects of billions of years of galaxy evolution via such processes as mergers, tidal stripping, accretion, and in some cases the partial or even complete destruction of other galaxies. If large galaxies have grown by consuming their smaller neighbors, or by accreting material stripped from other galaxies, then their observed globular cluster systems are an amalgamation of the globular cluster systems of their progenitors. Careful analysis of the globular cluster populations of galaxies can thus allow astronomers to reconstruct their dynamical histories.
Nearly a century after the true nature of galaxies as distant island universes was established, their origin and evolution remain great unsolved problems of modern astrophysics. One of the most promising ways to investigate galaxy formation is to study the ubiquitous globular star clusters that surround most galaxies. Recent advances in our understanding of the globular cluster systems of the Milky Way and other galaxies point to a complex picture of galaxy genesis driven by cannibalism, collisions, bursts of star formation and other tumultuous events.
Scaling relations for globular clusters (GC) differ from scaling relations for pressure supported (elliptical) galaxies. We show that two-body relaxation is the dominant mechanism in shaping the bivariate dependence of density on mass and Galactocentric distance for Milky Way GCs with masses <10^6 Msun, and it is possible, but not required, that GCs formed with similar scaling relations as ultra-compact dwarf galaxies. We use a fast cluster evolution model to fit a parameterised model for the initial properties of Milky Way GCs to the observed present-day properties. The best-fit cluster initial mass function is substantially flatter (power-law index alpha =- 0.6+/-0.2) than what is observed for young massive clusters (YMCs) forming in the nearby Universe (alpha =~-2). A slightly steeper CIMF is allowed when considering the metal-rich GCs separately (alpha =~-1.2+/-0.4$). If stellar mass loss and two-body relaxation in the Milky Way tidal field are the dominant disruption mechanisms, then GCs formed differently from YMCs.
Young clusters are observed to form in a variety of interacting galaxies and violent starbursts, a substantial number resembling the progenitors of the well-studied globular clusters in mass and size. By studying young clusters in merger remnants and peculiar galaxies, we can therefore learn about the violent star formation history of these galaxies. We present a new set of evolutionary synthesis models of our GALEV code specifically developed to include the gaseous emission of presently forming star clusters, and a new tool that allows to determine individual cluster metallicities, ages, extinction values and masses from a comparison of a large grid of model Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) with multi-color observations. First results for the newly-born clusters in NGC 1569 are presented.
This talk reviews recent progress in Higgsless models of electroweak symmetry breaking, and summarizes relevant points of model-building and phenomenology.
Our numerical simulations first demonstrate that the pressure of ISM in a major merger becomes so high ($>$ $10^5$ $rm k_{rm B}$ K $rm cm^{-3}$) that GMCs in the merger can collapse to form globular clusters (GCs) within a few Myr. The star formation efficiency within a GMC in galaxy mergers can rise up from a few percent to $sim$ 80 percent, depending on the shapes and the temperature of the GMC. This implosive GC formation due to external high pressure of warm/hot ISM can be more efficient in the tidal tails or the central regions of mergers. The developed clusters have King-like profile with the effective radius of a few pc. The structural, kinematical, and chemical properties of these GC systems can depend on orbital and chemical properties of major mergers.