Are Globular Clusters the Remnant Nuclei of Progenitor Disk Galaxies?

Abstract

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.

5 pages, no figures. Accepted by ApJ Letters

References in corpus (13)

• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. VIII. The Nuclei of Early-Type Galaxies
• The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. I. Overview and Clusters Without Previous HST Photometry
• The Baryon Content of Extremely Low Mass Dwarf Galaxies
• From Supermassive Black Holes to Dwarf Elliptical Nuclei: a Mass Continuum
• Explaining the Color Distributions of Globular Cluster Systems in Elliptical Galaxies
• NGC 6441: another indication for a very high helium content in Globular Cluster stars
• Super Star Cluster Velocity Dispersions and Virial Masses in the M82 Nuclear Starburst
• Molecular Gas Dynamics in NGC 6946: a Bar-driven Nuclear Starburst "Caught in the Act"
• Global Properties of the Globular Cluster Systems of Four Spiral Galaxies
• Bar-Driven Mass Build-Up within the Central 50pc of NGC6946
• Using globular clusters to test gravity in the weak acceleration regime: NGC 7099
• NGC2298: a globular cluster on its way to disruption
• A Genuine Intermediate-Age Globular Cluster in M33

Cited by in corpus (12)

• The nucleus of the Sagittarius dSph galaxy and M54: a window on the process of galaxy nucleation
• Uniting Old Stellar Systems: From Globular Clusters to Giant Ellipticals
• The Structure of Nuclear Star Clusters in Nearby Late-type Spiral Galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 Imaging
• A deep view into the nucleus of the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy with MUSE. I. Data and stellar population characterization
• On The Origin of the Blue Tilt in Extragalactic Globular Cluster Systems
• Where did the globular clusters of the Milky Way form? Insights from the E-MOSAICS simulations
• The hidden past of M92: Detection and characterization of a newly formed 17° long stellar stream using the Canada-France Imaging Survey
• Ultra-Compact Dwarfs around NGC 3268
• A consistency-test for determining whether ultra-compact dwarf galaxies could be the remnant nuclei of threshed galaxies
• Absence of obvious tidal tails around the globular cluster NGC 6397
• The impact of wind mass loss on nucleosynthesis and yields of very massive stars at low metallicity
• Resolved nuclear kinematics link the formation and growth of nuclear star clusters with the evolution of their early and late-type hosts