The globular cluster system of the young elliptical NGC 6702

We study the globular cluster (GC) system of the dust-lane elliptical galaxy NGC 6702, using B -, V - and I -band imaging observations carried out at the Keck telescope. This galaxy has a spectroscopic age of ≈2 Gyr suggesting recent star formation. We find strong evidence for a bimodal GC colour distribution, with the blue peak having a colour similar to that of the Galactic halo GCs. Assuming that the blue GCs are indeed old and metal-poor, we estimate an age of 2–5 Gyr and supersolar metallicity for the red GC subpopulation. Despite the large uncertainties, this is in reasonable agreement with the spectroscopic galaxy age. Additionally, we estimate a specific frequency of S _N =2.3±1.1 for NGC 6702. We predict that passive evolution of NGC 6702 will further increase its specific frequency to S _N ≈2.7 within 10 Gyr, in closer agreement to that of typical present-day ellipticals. We also discuss evidence that the merger/accretion event that took place a few Gyr ago involved a high gas fraction.     

UBRI photometry of globular clusters in the Leo group galaxy NGC 3379

We present wide-area UBRI photometry for globular clusters around the Leo group galaxy NGC 3379. Globular cluster candidates are selected from their B -band magnitudes and their  ( U − B ) _o   versus  ( B − I ) _o   colours. A colour–colour selection region was defined from photometry of the Milky Way and M31 globular cluster systems. We detect 133 globular cluster candidates, which supports previous claims of a low specific frequency for NGC 3379.
The Milky Way and M31 reveal blue and red subpopulations, with  ( U − B ) _o   and  ( B − I ) _o   colours indicating mean metallicities similar to those expected based on previous spectroscopic work. The stellar population models of Maraston and Brocato et al. are consistent with both subpopulations being old, and with metallicities of  [Fe/H]∼−1.5  and −0.6 for the blue and red subpopulations, respectively. The models of Worthey do not reproduce the  ( U − B ) _o   colours of the red (metal-rich) subpopulation for any modelled age.
For NGC 3379 we detect a blue subpopulation with similar colours, and presumably age/metallicity, to that of the Milky Way and M31 globular cluster systems. The red subpopulation is less well defined, perhaps due to increased photometric errors, but indicates a mean metallicity of [Fe/H]∼−0.6.     

Evolutionary history of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1052

We have obtained Keck spectra for 16 globular clusters (GCs) associated with the merger remnant elliptical NGC 1052, as well as a long-slit spectrum of the galaxy. We derive ages, metallicities and abundance ratios from simple stellar population models using the recently published methods of Proctor & Sansom , applied to extragalactic GCs for the first time. A number of GCs indicate the presence of strong blue horizontal branches that are not fully accounted for in the current stellar population models. We find all of the GCs to be ∼13 Gyr old according to simple stellar populations, with a large range of metallicities. From the galaxy spectrum we find NGC 1052 to have a luminosity-weighted central age of ∼2 Gyr and metallicity of  [Fe/H]∼+0.6  . No strong gradients in either age or metallicity were found to the maximum radius measured  (0.3  r _e≃ 1 kpc)  . However, we do find a strong radial gradient in α-element abundance, which reaches a very high central value. The young central starburst age is consistent with the age inferred from the H  i tidal tails and infalling gas of ∼1 Gyr. Thus, although NGC 1052 shows substantial evidence for a recent merger and an associated starburst, it appears that the merger did not induce the formation of new GCs, perhaps suggesting that little recent star formation occurred. This interpretation is consistent with 'frosting' models for early-type galaxy formation.     

Deep Gemini/GMOS imaging of an extremely isolated globular cluster in the Local Group

We report on deep imaging of a remote M31 globular cluster, MGC1, obtained with Gemini/GMOS. Our colour–magnitude diagram for this object extends ∼5 mag below the tip of the red-giant branch and exhibits features consistent with an ancient metal-poor stellar population, including a long, well-populated horizontal branch. The red-giant branch locus suggests MGC1 has a metal abundance  [M/H]≈−2.3  . We measure the distance to MGC1 and find that it lies ∼160 kpc in front of M31 with a distance modulus  μ= 23.95 ± 0.06  . Combined with its large projected separation of   R _p= 117 kpc  from M31, this implies a deprojected radius of   R _gc= 200 ± 20 kpc  , rendering it the most isolated known globular cluster in the Local Group by some considerable margin. We construct a radial brightness profile for MGC1 and show that it is both centrally compact and rather luminous, with   M_V =−9.2  . Remarkably, the cluster profile shows no evidence for a tidal limit and we are able to trace it to a radius of at least 450 pc, and possibly as far as ∼900 pc. The profile exhibits a power-law fall-off with exponent  γ=−2.5  , breaking to  γ=−3.5  in its outermost parts. This core-halo structure is broadly consistent with expectations derived from numerical models, and suggests that MGC1 has spent many gigayears in isolation.     

GMOS spectroscopy of the S0 galaxy NGC 3115

We present Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph longslit spectroscopy of the isolated S0 galaxy NGC 3115. We have determined kinematical data and Lick/IDS absorption line-strength indices for the major axis out to around 9 kpc and for the minor axis out to around 5 kpc (around 2R _e ). Using stellar population models which include the effects of variable [α/Fe] ratios, we derive metallicities, abundance ratios and ages for the stellar population of NGC 3115. We find that [α/Fe] remains fairly constant with increasing radius at around  [α/Fe]= 0.17  for the major axis but increases rapidly for the minor axis to around  [α/Fe]= 0.3  . We also find that to first order, this behaviour can be explained by a simple spheroid + disc model, where the spheroid has  [α/Fe]= 0.3  and the disc shows close to solar abundance ratios. The disc also appears considerably younger than the spheroid, having an age of around 6 Gyr compared to 12 Gyr for the spheroid. We compare these results to those previously presented for the globular cluster system of NGC 3115.     

Ages and metallicities of globular clusters in NGC 4472

We have derived ages and metallicities from co-added spectra of 131 globular clusters associated with the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4472. Based upon a calibration with Galactic globular clusters, we find that our sample of globular clusters in NGC 4472 span a metallicity range of approximately −1.6≤[Fe/H]≤0 dex. There is evidence of a radial metallicity gradient in the globular cluster system which is steeper than that seen in the underlying starlight. Determination of the absolute ages of the globular clusters is uncertain, but formally, the metal-poor population of globular clusters has an age of 14.5±4 Gyr and the metal-rich population is 13.8±6 Gyr old. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the globular cluster populations present in these data are older than 6 Gyr at the 95 per cent confidence level. We find that within the uncertainties, the globular clusters are old and coeval, implying that the bimodality seen in the broadband colours primarily reflects metallicity and not age differences.     

Constraints on the initial conditions of globular clusters

N -body simulations are made with a variety of initial conditions, in particular clumpy and flattened distributions, to attempt to constrain the possible initial conditions of globular clusters, using the observations that young LMC globular clusters appear relaxed after only 20 to 40 Myr. It is found that violent relaxation is able to erase most of the initial substructure in only ≈ 6 crossing times. However, initially very clumpy distributions (≲ 100 clumps) form clusters that are too concentrated to resemble real globular clusters. Such clusters also often have large clumps in long-lasting (≳ 30 crossing times) orbits which do not appear in observed cluster profiles. It is also found that even modest amounts of initial flattening produce clusters that are too elliptical to resemble real globular clusters. In such a scenario, cloud–cloud collisions and similar energetic processes would be unlikely to produce sufficiently spherical globular clusters. It is suggested that globular clusters form from roughly spherical initial conditions with star formation occurring either smoothly or in many small clumps.     

Structural parameters for globular clusters in NGC 5128 – III. ACS surface brightness profiles and model fits

We present internal surface brightness profiles, based on Hubble Space Telescope /ACS imaging in the F 606 W bandpass, for 131 globular cluster (GC) candidates with luminosities   L ≃ 10⁴–3 × 10⁶ L_⊙  in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5128. Several structural models are fitted to the profile of each cluster and combined with mass-to-light ratios ( M / L values) from population-synthesis models, to derive a catalogue of fundamental structural and dynamical parameters parallel in form to the catalogues recently produced by McLaughlin & van der Marel and by Barmby et al. for GCs and massive young star clusters in Local Group galaxies. As part of this, we provide corrected and extended parameter estimates for another 18 clusters in NGC 5128, which we observed previously. We show that, like GCs in the Milky Way and some of its satellites, the majority of globulars in NGC 5128 are well fitted by isotropic Wilson models, which have intrinsically more distended envelope structures than the standard King lowered isothermal spheres. We use our models to predict internal velocity dispersions for every cluster in our sample. These predictions agree well in general with the observed dispersions in a small number of clusters for which spectroscopic data are available. In a subsequent paper, we use these results to investigate scaling relations for GCs in NGC 5128.