This paper presents CCD multicolour photometry for the old open cluster NGC 188. The observations were carried out as a part of the Beijing--Arizona--Taiwan--Connecticut Multicolour Sky Survey from 1995 February to 2008 March, using 15 intermediate-b
and filters covering 3000--10000 AA. By fitting the Padova theoretical isochrones to our data, the fundamental parameters of this cluster are derived: an age of $t=7.5pm 0.5$ Gyr, a distant modulus of $(m-M)_0=11.17pm0.08$, and a reddening of $E(B-V)=0.036pm0.010$. The radial surface density profile of NGC 188 is obtained by star count. By fitting the King model, the structural parameters of NGC 188 are derived: a core radius of $R_{c}=3.80$, a tidal radius of $R_{t}=44.78$, and a concentration parameter of $C_{0}=log(R_{t}/R_{c})=1.07$. Fitting the mass function to a power-law function $phi(m) propto m^{alpha}$, the slopes of mass functions for different spatial regions are derived. We find that NGC 188 presents a slope break in the mass function. The break mass is $m_{rm break}=0.885~M_{odot}$. In the mass range above $m_{rm break}$, the slope of the overall region is $alpha=-0.76$. The slope of the core region is $alpha=1.09$, and the slopes of the external regions are $alpha=-0.86$ and $alpha=-2.15$, respectively. In the mass range below $m_{rm break}$, these slopes are $alpha=0.12$, $alpha=4.91$, $alpha=1.33$, and $alpha=-1.09$, respectively. The mass segregation in NGC 188 is reflected in the obvious variation of the slopes in different spatial regions of this cluster.
In this paper, we present the properties of 10 halo globular clusters with luminosities $Lsimeq 5-7times 10^5{L_odot}$ in the Local Group galaxy M33 using the images of {it Hubble Space Telescope} Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in the F555W and F814W
bands. We obtained ellipticities, position angles and surface brightness profiles for them. In general, the ellipticities of M33 sample clusters are similar to those of M31 clusters. The structural and dynamical parameters are derived by fitting the profiles to three different models combined with mass-to-light ratios ($M/L$ values) from population-synthesis models. The structural parameters include core radii, concentration, half-light radii {bf and} central surface brightness. The dynamical parameters include the integrated cluster mass, integrated binding energy, central surface mass density {bf and} predicted line-of-sight velocity dispersion at the cluster center. The velocity dispersions of four clusters predicted here agree well with the observed dispersions by Larsen et al. The results here showed that the majority of the sample halo globular clusters are well fitted by King model as well as by Wilson model, and better than by Sersic model. In general, the properties of clusters in M33, M31 and the Milky Way fall in the same regions of parameter spaces. The tight correlations of cluster properties indicate a fundamental plane for clusters, which reflects some universal physical conditions and processes operating at the epoch of cluster formation.
This paper presents CCD multicolor photometry for 304 old star clusters in the nearby spiral galaxy M31. Of which photometry of 55 star clusters is first obtained. The observations were carried out as a part of the Beijing--Arizona--Taiwan--Connectic
ut (BATC) Multicolor Sky Survey from 1995 February to 2008 March, using 15 intermediate-band filters covering 3000--10000 AA. Detailed comparisons show that our photometry is in agreement with previous measurements. Based on the ages and metallicities from Caldwell et al. and the photometric measurements here, we estimated the clusters masses by comparing their multicolor photometry with stellar population synthesis models. The results show that the sample clusters have masses between $sim 3times10^4 M_odot$ and $sim 10^7 M_odot$ with the peak of $sim 4times10^5 M_odot$. The masses here are in good agreement with those in previous studies. Combined with the masses of young star clusters of M31 from Wang et al., we find that the peak of mass of old clusters is ten times that of young clusters.
We present 2MASS $JHK_{rm s}$ photometry for 913 star clusters and candidates in the field of M31, which are selected from the latest Revised Bologna Catalog of M31 globular clusters (GCs) and candidates. The photometric measurements in this paper su
pplement this catalog, and provide a most comprehensive and homogeneous photometric catalog for M31 GCs in the $JHK_{rm s}$ bandpasses. In general, our photometry is consistent with previous measurements. The globular cluster luminosity function (GCLF) peaks for the confirmed GCs derived by fitting a $t_5$ distribution using maximum likelihood method are: $J_0 = 15.348_{-0.208}^{+0.206}$, $H_0 = 14.703_{-0.180}^{+0.176}$, and ${K_{rm s}}_0 = 14.534_{-0.146}^{+0.142}$, all of which agree well with previous studies. The GCLFs are different between metal-rich (MR) and metal-poor (MP), inner and outer subpopulations, as that MP clusters are fainter than their MR counterparts, and the inner clusters are brighter than the outer ones, which confirm previous results. The NIR colors of the GC candidates are on average redder than those of the confirmed GCs, which lead to an obscure bimodal distribution of the color indices. The relation of $(V-K_{rm s})_0$ and metallicity shows a notable departure from linearity, with a shallower slope towards the redder end. The color-magnitude diagram (CMD) and color-color diagram show that many GC candidates are located out of the evolutionary tracks, suggesting that some of them may be false M31 GC candidates. The CMD also shows that the initial mass function of M31 GCs covers a large range, and the majority of the clusters have initial masses between $10^3$ and $10^6$ $M_{odot}$.
In this paper, we presented metal abundance properties of 144 M81 globular clusters. These globulars consist of the largest globular cluster sample in M81 till now. Our main results are: the distribution of metallicities are bimodal, with metallicity
peaks at [Fe/H]sim-1.51 and -0.58, and the metal-poor globular clusters tend to be less spatially concentrated than the metal-rich ones; the metal-rich globular clusters in M81 do not demonstrate a centrally concentrated spatial distribution as the metal-rich ones in M31 do; like our Galaxy and M31, the globular clusters in M81 have a small radial metallicity gradient. These results are consistent with those obtained based on a small sample of M81 globular clusters. In addition, this paper showed that there is evidence that a strong rotation of the M81 globular cluster system around the minor axis exists, and that rotation is present in the metal-rich globular cluster subsample, while the metal-poor globular cluster subsample shows no evidence for rotation. The most significant difference between the rotation of the metal-rich and metal-poor globular clusters occurs at intermediate projected galactocentric radii. The results of this paper confirm the conclusion of Schroder et al. that M81s metal-rich globular clusters at intermediate projected radii were associated with a thick disk of M81.
This paper supplements Jiang et al. (2003), who studied 172 M31 globular clusters (GCs) and globular cluster candidates from Battistini et al. (1987) on the basis of integrated photometric measurements in the Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut (BATC)
photometric system. Here, we present multicolor photometric CCD data (in the BATC system) for the remaining 39 M31 GCs and candidates. In addition, the ages of 35 GCs are constrained by comparing our accurate photometry with updated theoretical stellar synthesis models. We use photometric measurements from GALEX in the far- and near-ultraviolet and 2MASS infrared $JHK_s$ data, in combination with optical photometry. Except for two clusters, the ages of the other sample GCs are all older than 1 Gyr. Their age distribution shows that most sample clusters are younger than 6 Gyr, with a peak at ~3 Gyr, although the `usual complement of well-known old GCs (i.e., GCs of similar age as the majority of the Galactic GCs) is present as well.
