Using deep photometric data from WFC@INT and [email protected] we measure the outer number density profiles of 19 stellar clusters located in the inner region of the Milky Way halo (within a Galactocentric distance range of 10-30 kpc) in order to assess th
e impact of internal and external dynamical processes on the spatial distribution of stars. Adopting power-law fitting templates, with index $-gamma$ in the outer region, we find that the clusters in our sample can be divided in two groups: a group of massive clusters ($ ge 10^5 $ M_sun) that has relatively flat profiles with $2.5 < gamma < 4$ and a group of low-mass clusters ($ le 10^5 $ M_sun), with steep profiles ($gamma > 4$) and clear signatures of interaction with the Galactic tidal field. We refer to these two groups as tidally unaffected and tidally affected, respectively. Our results also show a clear trend between the slope of the outer parts and the half-mass density of these systems, which suggests that the outer density profiles may retain key information on the dominant processes driving the dynamical evolution of Globular Clusters.
