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Register a new userA Quantitative Link Between Globular Clusters and the Stellar Halos in Elliptical Galaxies
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This paper explores the quantitative connection between globular clusters and the diffuse stellar population of the galaxies they are associated with. Both NGC 1399 and NGC 4486 (M87) are well suited for this kind of analysis due to their large globular cluster populations. The main assumption of our Monte Carlo based models is that each globular cluster is formed along with a given diffuse stellar mass that shares the same spatial distribution, chemical composition and age. The main globular clusters subpopulations, that determine the observed bimodal colour distribution, are decomposed avoiding a priori parametric (e.g. Gaussian) fits and using a new colour (C-T1)-metallicity relation. The eventual detectability of a blue tilt in the colour magnitude diagrams of the blue globulars subpopulation is also addressed. A successful link between globular clusters and the stellar galaxy halo is established by assuming that the number of globular clusters per associated diffuse stellar mass t is a function of total abundance [Z/H] and behaves as t=gamma*exp(delta[Z/H]) (i.e. increases when abundance decreases).
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Cosmological simulations predict that early-type galaxies (ETGs) are the results of extended mass accretion histories. The latter are characterized by different numbers of mergers, mergers mass ratios and gas fractions, and timing. Depending on the sequence and nature of these mergers that follow the first phase of the in-situ star formation, these accretion histories may lead to ETGs that have low or high mass halos, and that rotate fast or slow. Since the stellar halos maintain the fossil records of the events that led to their formation, a discontinuity may be in place between the inner regions of ETGs and their outer halos, because the time required for the halos stars to exchange their energies and momenta is very long compared with the age of these systems. Exquisite deep photometry and extended spectroscopy for significant samples of ETGs are then used to quantify the occurrence and significance of such a transition in the galaxies structural and kinematical parameters. Once this transition radius is measured, its dependency with the effective radius of the galaxies light distribution and total stellar masses can be investigated. Such correlations can then be compared with the predictions of accreted, i.e. ex-situ vs. in-situ components from cosmological simulations to validate such models.
The established by us possibility to consider circumgalactic clouds (CGCs) as the remnants of the parent clouds in which globular clusters (GCs) have been formed (Acharova & Sharina 2018) is based on a comparison of the following facts. First, the metallicities of CGCs at redshifts $ z <1 $ and of GCs in our and other galaxies show a bimodal distribution with a minimum near $rm [Mg/H]=-1$. Mean values and standard deviations of the Mg abundances in GCs and CGCs with $rm [Mg/H]<-1$ and $rm [Mg/H]> -1$ coincide within the typical error of measuring the elemental abundances in clouds: 0.3 dex (Acharova & Sharina 2018). Second, a similar coincidence is observed for GCs and CGCs with $rm [X/H]<-1$ and $rm [X/H]> -1$ at redshifts $ 2 <z <3 $, where $[X/H]$ is the metallicity determined from the sum of several elemental abundances (Dias et al. 2016, Rafelski et al. 2012, Wotta et al. 2019, Quiret et al. 2016). Third, high-metallicity CGCs are observed starting from redshifts $rm zle 2.5$, i.e. approximately 11 Gyrs ago. At the same time globular clusters were actively formed, and their supernovae were able to enrich the surrounding gas, from which the high-metal component of the clouds was formed.
The X-ray emission from normal elliptical galaxies has two major components: soft emission from diffuse gas and harder emission from populations of accreting (low-mass) stellar X-ray binaries (LMXB). If LMXB populations are tied to the field stellar populations in galaxies, their total X-ray luminosities should be proportional to the optical luminosities of galaxies. However, recent ASCA and Chandra X-ray observations show that the global luminosities of LMXB components in ellipticals exhibit significant scatter at a given optical luminosity. This scatter may reflect a range of evolutionary stages among LMXB populations in ellipticals of different ages. If so, the ratio of the global LMXB X-ray luminosity to the galactic optical luminosity, L_LMXB/L_opt, may be used to determine when the bulk of stars were formed in individual ellipticals. To test this, we compare variations in L_LMXB/L_opt for LMXB populations in ellipticals to optically-derived estimates of stellar ages in the same galaxies. We find no correlation, implying that L_LMXB/L_opt variations are not good age indicators for ellipticals. Alternatively, LMXBs may be formed primarily in globular clusters (through stellar tidal interactions), rather than in the stellar fields of galaxies. Since elliptical galaxies exhibit a wide range of globular cluster populations for a given galaxian luminosity, this may induce a dispersion in the LMXB populations of ellipticals with similar optical luminosities. Indeed, we find that L_LMXB/L_opt ratios for LMXB populations are strongly correlated with the specific globular cluster frequencies in elliptical galaxies. This suggests that most LMXBs were formed in globular clusters.
We present high-quality, Keck spectroscopic data for a sample of 20 globular clusters (GCs) in the massive E0 galaxy NGC1407. A subset of twenty line-strength indices of the Lick/IDS system have been measured for both the GC system and the central integrated star-light of the galaxy. Ages, metallicities and [alpha/Fe] ratios have been derived using several different approaches. The majority GCs in NGC1407 studied are old, follow a tight metallicity sequence reaching values slightly above solar, and exhibit mean [alpha/Fe] ratios of ~ 0.3 dex. In addition, three GCs are formally derived to be young (~ 4 Gyr), but we argue that they are actually old GCs hosting blue horizontal branches. We report, for the first time, evidence for the existence of two chemically-distinct subpopulations of metal-rich (MR) GCs. We find some MR GCs exhibit significantly larger [Mg/Fe] and [C/Fe] ratios. Different star formation time-scales are proposed to explain the correlation between Mg and C abundances. We also find striking CN overabundances over the entire GC metallicity range. Interestingly, the behavior of C and N in metal-poor (MP) GCs clearly deviates from the one in MR GCs. In particular, for MR GCs, N increases dramatically while C essentially saturates. This may be interpreted as a consequence of the increasing importance of the CNO cycle with increasing metallicity.
We present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 F555W and F814W survey of 69 dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs) in the Virgo and Fornax Clusters and Leo Group. The $V-I$ colors of the dE globular clusters, nuclei, and underlying field star populations are used to trace the dE star-formation histories. We find that the dE globular cluster candidates are as blue as the metal-poor globular clusters of the Milky Way. The observed correlation of the dE globular cluster systems $V-I$ color with the luminosity of the host dE is strong evidence that the globular clusters were formed within the the halos of dEs and do not have a pre-galactic origin. Assuming the majority of dE clusters are old, the mean globular cluster color- host galaxy luminosity correlation implies a cluster metallicity $-$ galaxy luminosity relation of $Z_{GC} propto L_B^{0.22 pm 0.05}$, which is significantly shallower than the field star metallicity - host galaxy luminosity relationship observed in Local Group dwarfs ($Z_{FS} propto L^{0.4}$). The dE stellar envelopes are $0.1-0.2$ magnitudes redder in $V-I$ than their globular clusters and nuclei. This color offset implies separate star-formation episodes within the dEs for the clusters and field stars, while the very blue colors of two dE nuclei trace a third star-formation event in those dEs less than a Gyr ago.
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