Are Globular Clusters the Remnant Nuclei of Progenitor Disk Galaxies?

Details Are Globular Clusters the Remnant Nuclei of Progenitor Disk Galaxies? Are Globular Clusters the Remnant Nuclei of Progenitor Disk Galaxies?

2007-11-28

arxiv.org/abs/0711.4542v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

5 pages, no figures. Accepted by ApJ Letters

Scientific paper

10.1086/527033

The globular cluster system of a typical spheroidal galaxy makes up about 0.25% of the total galaxy mass (McLaughlin 1999). This is roughly the same mass fraction as contained in the nuclear star clus- ter (or stellar nucleus) present in most nearby low-mass galaxies. Motivated by this "coincidence", this Letter discusses a scenario in which globular clusters of present-day galaxies are the surviving nuclei of the dwarf galaxies that - according to the hierarchical merging paradigm of galaxy forma- tion - constitute the "building blocks" of present-day massive galaxies. This scenario, which was first suggested by Freeman (1993), has become more attractive recently in the light of studies that demonstrate a complex star formation history in a number of massive globular clusters.

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