Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010jkas...43..105k&link_type=abstract
Journal of the Korean Astronomical Society, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 105-113
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Stellar Dynamics, Galaxy: Globular Clusters: General, Galaxy: Evolution, Galaxy: Formation, Galaxy: Kinematics And Dynamics
Scientific paper
We study the dynamical evolution of the M87 globular cluster (GC) system using the most advanced and realistic Fokker-Planck (FP) model.By comparing our FP models with both mass function (MF) and radial distribution (RD) of the observed GC system, we find the best-fit initial (at M87's age of 2--3~Gyr) MF and RD for three GC groups: all GCs, blue GCs, and red GCs. We estimate the initial total mass in GCs to be 1.8+0.3-0.2 × 1010 M&sun;,which is about 100 times larger than that of the Milky Way GC system. We also find that the fraction of the total mass currently in GCs is 34%. When blue and red GCs are fitted separately, blue GCs initially have a larger total mass and a shallower radial distribution than red GCs. If one assumes that most of the significant major merger events of M87 have ended by the age of 2--3~Gyr, our finding that blue (metal-poor) GCs initially had a shallower radial distribution supports the major merger scenario for the origin of metallicity bimodality.
Jin -Ho
Kim Sungsoo S.
Shin Jihye
No associations
LandOfFree
Dynamical Evolution of the M87 Globular Cluster System does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Dynamical Evolution of the M87 Globular Cluster System, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dynamical Evolution of the M87 Globular Cluster System will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-982799