Globular Clusters: DNA of Early-Type galaxies?

Abstract

This paper explores if the mean properties of Early-Type Galaxies (ETG) can be reconstructed from "genetic" information stored in their GCs (i.e., in their chemical abundances, spatial distributions and ages). This approach implies that the formation of each globular occurs in very massive stellar environments, as suggested by some models that aim at explaining the presence of multi-populations in these systems. The assumption that the relative number of globular clusters to diffuse stellar mass depends exponentially on chemical abundance, [Z/H], and the presence of two dominant GC sub-populations blue and red, allows the mapping of low metallicity halos and of higher metallicity (and more heterogeneous) bulges. In particular, the masses of the low-metallicity halos seem to scale up with dark matter mass through a constant. We also find a dependence of the globular cluster formation efficiency with the mean projected stellar mass density of the galaxies within their effective radii. The analysis is based on a selected sub-sample of galaxies observed within the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey of the {\it Hubble Space Telescope}. These systems were grouped, according to their absolute magnitudes, in order to define composite fiducial galaxies and look for a quantitative connection with their (also composite) globular clusters systems. The results strengthen the idea that globular clusters are good quantitative tracers of both baryonic and dark matter in ETGs.

20 pages, 28 figures and 5 tables

References in corpus (10)

• Formation and Dynamical Evolution of Multiple Stellar Generations in Globular Clusters
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey XV. The Formation Efficiencies of Globular Clusters in Early-Type Galaxies: The Effects of Mass and Environment
• The DART imaging and CaT survey of the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• The Black Hole Mass, Stellar M/L, and Dark Halo in M87
• Setting UBVRI Photometric Zero-Points Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugriz Magnitudes
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. XIV. Analysis of Color-Magnitude Relations in Globular Cluster Systems
• The connection between globular cluster systems and their host galaxy and environment: a case study of the isolated elliptical NGC 821
• A Quantitative Link Between Globular Clusters and the Stellar Halos in Elliptical Galaxies
• Gemini/GMOS Spectroscopy of the Spheroid and Globular Cluster System of NGC 3923
• The Optical Colors of Giant Elliptical Galaxies and their Metal-Rich Globular Clusters Indicate a Bottom-Heavy Initial Mass Function

Cited by in corpus (6)

• The SAGES Legacy Unifying Globulars and GalaxieS Survey (SLUGGS): Sample definition, methods, and initial results
• Dark Matter Halos in Galaxies and Globular Cluster Populations. II: Metallicity and Morphology
• The complex star cluster system of NGC 1316 (Fornax A)
• The extremely populated globular cluster system of the lenticular galaxy NGC 6861
• Tracing the Assembly History of NGC 1395 through its Globular Cluster System
• Field/Isolated lenticular galaxies with high $S_N$ values: the case of NGC 4546 and its globular cluster system