On the tidal tails of Milky Way globular clusters

Abstract

We report on the search for overall kinematical or structural conditions that have allowed some Milky Way globular clusters to presently develop tidal tails. For this purpose, we build a comprehensive catalogue of globular clusters with studies focused on their outermost regions and classified them in three categories: those with observed tidal tails, those with extra-tidal features different from tidal tails and those without any signature of extended stellar density profiles. When exploring different kinematical and structural parameter spaces, we found that globular clusters - irrespective from the presence of tidal tails, or any other kind of extra-tidal features or the absence of them - behave similarly. In general, globular clusters whose orbits are relatively more eccentric and very inclined respect to the Milky Way plane have undergone a larger amount of mass-loss by tidal disruption. The latter has also accelerated the internal dynamics toward a comparatively more advanced stage of evolution. These outcomes show that it is not straightforward to find any particular set of parameter space and dynamical conditions that can definitely predict tidal tails along globular clusters in the Milky Way.

5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• The disruption of the low-mass globular cluster E3
• Discovery of rotation axis alignments in Milky Way globular clusters