Globular Cluster Systems in Brightest Cluster Galaxies: A Near-Universal Luminosity Function?

Abstract

We present the first results from our HST Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) survey of seven central supergiant cluster galaxies and their globular cluster (GC) systems. We measure a total of 48000 GCs in all seven galaxies, representing the largest single GC database. We find that a log-normal shape accurately matches the observed luminosity function (LF) of the GCs down to the GCLF turnover point, which is near our photometric limit. In addition, the LF has a virtually identical shape in all seven galaxies. Our data underscore the similarity in the formation mechanism of massive star clusters in diverse galactic environments. At the highest luminosities (log L > 10^7 L_Sun) we find small numbers of "superluminous" objects in five of the galaxies; their luminosity and color ranges are at least partly consistent with those of UCDs (Ultra-Compact Dwarfs). Lastly, we find preliminary evidence that in the outer halo (R > 20 kpc), the LF turnover point shows a weak dependence on projected distance, scaling as L_0 ~ R^-0.2, while the LF dispersion remains nearly constant.

arXiv commentTo appear in Astrophysical Journal, December 2014

References in corpus (57)

• The Optical and Near-Infrared Properties of Galaxies: I. Luminosity and Stellar Mass Functions
• Extragalactic Globular Clusters and Galaxy Formation
• Dynamical evolution of star clusters in tidal fields
• Destruction of the Galactic Globular Cluster System
• Dynamical Evolution of the Mass Function of Globular Star Clusters
• The Mass Function of Young Star Clusters in the "Antennae" Galaxies
• Stellar Feedback in Dwarf Galaxy Formation
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey XV. The Formation Efficiencies of Globular Clusters in Early-Type Galaxies: The Effects of Mass and Environment
• Modeling the Metallicity Distribution of Globular Clusters
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. XII. The Luminosity Function of Globular Clusters in Early Type Galaxies
• Formation of globular clusters in hierarchical cosmology
• A Catalog of Globular Cluster Systems: What Determines the Size of a Galaxy's Globular Cluster Population?
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. VII. Resolving the Connection Between Globular Clusters and Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies
• On the Formation of Globular Cluster Systems in a Hierarchical Universe
• An Empirical Pixel-Based Correction for Imperfect CTE. I. HST's Advanced Camera for Surveys
• Globular Cluster Systems in Brightest Cluster Galaxies: Bimodal Metallicity Distributions and the Nature of the High-Luminosity Clusters
• The mass function of young star clusters in spiral galaxies
• The Relationships Among Compact Stellar Systems: A Fresh View of Ultra Compact Dwarfs
• The Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/4039) Revisited: ACS and NICMOS Observations of a Prototypical Merger
• Modeling the formation and evolution of star cluster populations in galaxy simulations
• The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. VIII. The Luminosity Function of Globular Clusters in Virgo and Fornax Early-Type Galaxies and its Use as a Distance Indicator
• Lifetimes of tidally limited star clusters with different radii
• The Globular Cluster Systems of the Early-type Galaxies NGC3379, NGC4406, and NGC4594 and Implications for Galaxy Formation
• New Colour-Mass to Light Relations: the role of the Asymptotic Giant Branch phase and of interstellar dust
• High-resolution simulations of galaxy mergers: Resolving globular cluster formation
• The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey IV. Intergalactic Globular Clusters and the Massive Globular Cluster System at the Core of the Coma Galaxy Cluster
• Globular Clusters in 19 Northern Abell Clusters
• Globular Cluster Systems in Giant Ellipticals: the Mass/Metallicity Relation
• Large-scale study of the NGC 1399 globular cluster system in Fornax
• The Formation of the First Globular Clusters in Dwarf Galaxies Before the Epoch of Reionization
• Modeling the Formation of Globular Cluster Systems in the Virgo Cluster
• Shaping the Globular Cluster Mass Function by Stellar-Dynamical Evaporation
• Star-Forming Galaxies at z~2 and the Formation of the Metal-Rich Globular Cluster Population
• The early evolution of the star cluster mass function
• Globular cluster luminosity function as distance indicator
• Evolution of globular cluster systems in elliptical galaxies. II. Power-law initial mass function
• The Globular Cluster System in M87: A Wide-Field Study with CFHT/Megacam
• The Color-Magnitude Relation for Metal-Poor Globular Clusters in M87: Confirmation From Deep HST/ACS Imaging
• The specific frequencies of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies
• Globular Cluster Systems As Distance Indicators: Metallicity Effects On The Luminosity Function
• The Rich Globular Cluster System of Abell 1689 and the Radial Dependence of the Globular Cluster Formation Efficiency
• Globular Cluster Formation Within The Aquarius Simulation
• The Globular Cluster Systems in the Coma Ellipticals. IV: WFPC2 Photometry for Five Giant Ellipticals
• A large population of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies in the Hydra I cluster
• The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. X. Color Gradients of Globular Cluster Systems in Early-Type Galaxies
• The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. IX. The Color-Magnitude Relation of Globular Cluster Systems
• The Globular Cluster Systems around NGC 3311 and NGC 3309
• Formation of Metal-Poor Globular Clusters in Lyman alpha Emitting Galaxies in the Early Universe
• A Subaru/Suprime-Cam wide-field survey of globular cluster populations around M87 - II: Colour and spatial distribution
• New Constraints on Mass-Dependent Disruption of Star Clusters in M51
• Massive star clusters in galaxies
• Globular cluster systems II: On the formation of old globular clusters and their sites of formation
• VLT photometry in the Antlia Cluster: the giant ellipticals NGC 3258 and NGC 3268 and their globular cluster systems
• Calibration of BVRI Photometry for the Wide Field Channel of the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys
• Ultra compact dwarfs in the Perseus Cluster: UCD formation via tidal stripping
• B-R Colors of Globular Clusters in NGC 6166 (A2199)
• Cluster formation in molecular clouds: I. stellar populations, star formation rates, and ionizing radiation

Cited by in corpus (61)

• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Masses, Merger Rates, and the Impact of Stellar Evolution
• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Implications for Advanced LIGO
• Post-Newtonian Dynamics in Dense Star Clusters: Formation, Masses, and Merger Rates of Highly-Eccentric Black Hole Binaries
• Post-Newtonian Dynamics in Dense Star Clusters: Highly-Eccentric, Highly-Spinning, and Repeated Binary Black Hole Mergers
• Dynamical Formation of the GW150914 Binary Black Hole
• The E-MOSAICS Project: simulating the formation and co-evolution of galaxies and their star cluster populations
• Black hole mergers and blue stragglers from hierarchical triples formed in globular clusters
• Modeling Dense Star Clusters in the Milky Way and Beyond with the $\text{CMC}$ Cluster Catalog
• Distinguishing Between Formation Channels for Binary Black Holes with LISA
• Galactic Dark Matter Halos and Globular Cluster Populations. III: Extension to Extreme Environments
• Globular Cluster Formation and Evolution in the Context of Cosmological Galaxy Assembly: Open Questions
• Redshift Evolution of the Black Hole Merger Rate from Globular Clusters
• The origin of the first neutron star -- neutron star merger
• Formation of Globular Cluster Systems: From Dwarf Galaxies to Giants
• Gravitational wave sources from inspiralling globular clusters in the Galactic Centre and similar environments
• Dark Matter Halos in Galaxies and Globular Cluster Populations. II: Metallicity and Morphology
• Fingerprints of binary black hole formation channels encoded in the mass and spin of merger remnants
• Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury XVIII. The High-mass Truncation of the Star Cluster Mass Function
• The MEGaN project II. Gravitational waves from intermediate mass- and binary black holes around a supermassive black hole
• Globular Cluster Systems in Brightest Cluster Galaxies. III: Beyond Bimodality
• Tidal Disruption Events and Gravitational Waves from Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Evolving Globular Clusters Across Space and Time
• Origins of scaling relations of globular cluster systems
• Implications for Galaxy Formation Models from Observations of Globular Clusters around Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies
• Introducing EMP-Pathfinder: modelling the simultaneous formation and evolution of stellar clusters in their host galaxies
• Globular Cluster Systems in Brightest Cluster Galaxies. II: NGC 6166
• Merging stellar and intermediate-mass black holes in dense clusters: implications for LIGO, LISA and the next generation of gravitational wave detectors
• Black Hole Mergers from Star Clusters with Top-Heavy Initial Mass Functions
• Clearing the hurdle: The mass of globular cluster systems as a function of host galaxy mass
• Isolated and dynamical black hole mergers with \texttt{B-POP}: the role of star formation and dynamics, star cluster evolution, natal kicks, mass and spins, and hierarchical mergers
• Formation of Globular Cluster Systems II: Impact of the Cutoff of the Cluster Initial Mass Function
• A Photometric Survey of Globular Cluster Systems in Brightest Cluster Galaxies
• Euclid: Early Release Observations -- The intracluster light and intracluster globular clusters of the Perseus cluster
• The PIPER Survey: I. An Initial Look at the Intergalactic Globular Cluster Population in the Perseus Cluster
• Compact object binary mergers driven by cluster tides: a new channel for LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events
• Evolution of star cluster systems in isolated galaxies: first results from direct $N$-body simulations
• Globular Clusters, Ultracompact Dwarfs, and Dwarf Galaxies in Abell 2744 at the Redshift of 0.308
• Luminosity functions of globular clusters in five nearby spiral galaxies using HST/ACS images
• From globular clusters to the disc: the dual life of our Galaxy
• Search Instructions for Globular Clusters in Formation at High Redshifts
• Modeling the kinematics of globular cluster systems
• Spectral properties and detectability of supermassive stars in protoglobular clusters at high redshift
• What Are Those Tiny Things? A First Study of Compact Star Clusters in the SMACS0723 Field with JWST
• Is There a Fundamental Upper Limit to the Mass of a Star Cluster?
• Galaxy structure from multiple tracers: I. A census of M87's globular cluster populations
• Imaging dark matter at the smallest scales with $z\approx 1$ lensed stars
• Scaling relations for globular cluster systems in early-type galaxies. II. Is there an environmental dependence?
• Where Are Most of the Globular Clusters in Today's Universe?
• A Gemini/GMOS study of the bright elliptical galaxy NGC 3613 and its globular cluster system
• Investigating the $M_{GCS}-M_h$ Relation in the Most Massive Galaxies
• Early-type galaxies in low-density environments: NGC 6876 explored through its globular cluster system
• Detection of the Stellar Intracluster Medium in Perseus (Abell 426)
• The globular cluster system of the isolated elliptical NGC 6411: An old system in an intermediate-age galaxy?
• Discovery of Two Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies with Unusually Bright Globular Cluster Luminosity Functions via a Mark-Dependently Thinned Point Process (MATHPOP)
• Globular Cluster Counts around 700 Nearby Galaxies
• Wide-field study of the peculiar globular cluster system hosted by the field lenticular NGC 1172
• Core overshoot constrained by the absence of a solar convective core and some solar-like stars
• Major Mergers Mean Major Offset: Drivers of Intrinsic Scatter in The $M_{GCS}-M_h$ Scaling Relation for Massive Elliptical Galaxies
• Shapes of dark matter haloes with discrete globular cluster dynamics: The example of NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
• Total mass slopes and enclosed mass constrained by globular cluster system dynamics
• Identifying Host Galaxies of Binary Black Hole Mergers with Next-Generation Gravitational Wave Detector Networks
• The contribution of the color space in LSST-like photometry for the selection of extragalactic globular cluster candidates