Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005hst..prop10594g&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10594
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Hst Proposal Id #10594 Galaxies
Scientific paper
The assembly history of spiral galaxies remains one of the most pressing questions in astrophysics today. In particular, we do not have a clear picture of the formation mechanism for bulges of spiral galaxies. Are bulges of spirals simply "small ellipticals", formed via rapid dissipative collapse during the early universe? Or is bulge building through secular evolution of inner disk stars a more common mechanism? Is there any dependence on bulge mass? A powerful yet relatively simple way to probe these fundamental questions is by studying the properties of globular cluster {GC} systems of spirals. Specifically, bulge formation via secular evolution is expected not to form GCs, whereas bulge formation via dissipative collapse is. We therefore propose to obtain ACS/WFC imaging as well as ground-based, wide-field imaging of five edge-on Sa spirals which cover a factor 15 in luminosity/mass, and for which spectroscopic follow-up is feasible. This constitutes the first luminosity-selected sample of early-type spirals, which will allow us to directly probe the dependence of GC properties on the bulge luminosity. We will detect a minimum of 100-200 GCs per galaxy in the ACS images, sufficient to reveal GC subpopulations, their relative numbers, sizes, and radial distributions. This study will more than double the number of well-studied early-type spiral systems.
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