Other
Scientific paper
Jul 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009hst..prop12238h&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #12238. Cycle 18
Other
Scientific paper
The cD-type Brightest Cluster Galaxies contain the richest globular cluster systems {GCSs} that exist. The wealth of results gathered from previous HST imaging programs in many smaller galaxies show that GCSs are powerful and unique tracers that link to origin and evolution of structure in two directions simultaneously: one direction is inward to the structure of the protoglobular clouds, star formation in the densest known conditions, and their chemical enrichment history. The other direction is outward to constraining early galaxy formation history, the nature of the pregalactic dwarfs, or the spatial and dynamic structure of the halo. But we have not yet tapped the vast mine of GCS data waiting for exploitation in the most luminous galaxies of all, the cDs. Surprisingly, we know little about these systems beyond the globular cluster populations in the nearby cDs M87 {Virgo} and NGC 1399 {Fornax}, and these two cases no longer provide adequate tests of the new phenomena now being uncovered, such as the correlation between GC mass and metallicity, the strikingly different formation efficiencies of metal-poor and metal-rich clusters, the galaxy-to-galaxy differences in GC mass distribution, and connections to Ultra-Compact Dwarfs and dE nuclei.We propose to image 7 cD-type systems within 200 Mpc that are representative of the very biggest galaxies known {Mv < -23}. These lie in far richer Abell-cluster environments than we could ever probe in Virgo, Fornax, or nearer systems. We will use ACS/WFC and WFC3 to image their GCSs down to the turnover point of the GC luminosity function, using the B and I filters for an optimal combination of exposure time, field size, and metallicity sensitivity. Our complete survey will produce luminosities, metallicities, and spatial distribution functions for more than 35,000 GCs, the largest GC database in existence and an order of magnitude larger than even the recent Virgo Cluster Survey. The legacy value of our survey will supply a rich resource for a wide array of other GC science and the formation histories of these unique systems.;
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