Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems III. NGC 2271, NGC 2865, NGC 3962, NGC 4240 and IC 4889

Abstract

As tracers of star formation, galaxy assembly and mass distribution, globular clusters have provided important clues to our understanding of early-type galaxies. But their study has been mostly constrained to galaxy groups and clusters where early-type galaxies dominate, leaving the properties of the globular cluster systems (GCSs) of isolated ellipticals as a mostly uncharted territory. We present Gemini-South/GMOS $g^{\prime }{i}^{\prime }$ observations of five isolated elliptical galaxies: NGC 3962, NGC 2865, IC 4889, NGC 2271 and NGC 4240. Photometry of their GCSs reveals clear color bimodality in three of them, remaining inconclusive for the other two. All the studied GCSs are rather poor with a mean specific frequency $S_N\sim 1.5$, independently of the parent galaxy luminosity. Considering also previous work, it is clear that bimodality and especially the presence of a significant, even dominant, population of blue clusters occurs at even the most isolated systems, casting doubts on a possible accreted origin of metal-poor clusters as suggested by some models. Additionally, we discuss the possible existence of ultra-compact dwarfs around the isolated elliptical NGC 3962.

A&A accepted - 18 pages (including appendix) - Fig. 1 reduced in quality

References in corpus (19)

• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey XV. The Formation Efficiencies of Globular Clusters in Early-Type Galaxies: The Effects of Mass and Environment
• Explaining the Color Distributions of Globular Cluster Systems in Elliptical Galaxies
• Spatially resolved spectroscopy of early-type galaxies over a range in mass
• The Nature of UCDs: Internal Dynamics from an Expanded Sample and Homogeneous Database
• Large-scale study of the NGC 1399 globular cluster system in Fornax
• The connection between globular cluster systems and their host galaxy and environment: a case study of the isolated elliptical NGC 821
• Globular Cluster Metallicity Subpopulations in NGC 4472
• Fiducial Stellar Population Sequences for the u'g'r'i'z' System
• An Ultra Compact Dwarf around the Sombrero galaxy (M104): the Nearest Massive UCD
• The Globular Cluster Systems around NGC 3311 and NGC 3309
• Central stellar populations of early-type galaxies in low-density environments
• The spatially resolved stellar populations of isolated early-type galaxies
• Companions to Isolated Elliptical Galaxies: Revisiting the Bothun-Sullivan Sample
• Globular cluster systems of six shell galaxies
• Radial Kinematics of Isolated Elliptical Galaxies
• Isolated elliptical galaxies and their globular cluster systems. II. NGC 7796 - globular clusters, dynamics, companion
• Intermediate-age Globular Clusters in Four Galaxy Merger Remnants
• Shell galaxies as laboratories for testing MOND
• A census of H$\alpha$ emitters in the intergalactic medium of the NGC 2865 system

Cited by in corpus (9)

• SOAR Adaptive Module (SAM): seeing improvement with a UV laser
• Scaling relations for globular cluster systems in early-type galaxies. II. Is there an environmental dependence?
• 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
• Early-type galaxies in low-density environments: NGC 6876 explored through its globular cluster system
• The globular cluster system of the isolated elliptical NGC 6411: An old system in an intermediate-age galaxy?
• The $z\sim 2$ $[\mathrm{O}\mathrm{III}]$ Luminosity Function of Grism-selected Emission-line Galaxies
• Star formation in low density HI gas around the Elliptical Galaxy NGC2865
• Nonlinear Color-Metallicity Relations of Globular Clusters. XI. Nonlinearity Effect Revealed by NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) and NGC 4594 (Sombrero) Galaxies