Two-dimensional classification of globular clusters

The metallicities of 75 globular clusters are determined in the Pilachowskiet al. scale from the slopes of their giant branches in theV, B-V diagram. In the diagram giant branch slope, horizontal branch morphology type, the clusters form two sequences: a vertical sequence (group I) with blue horizontal branches and Fe/H] from –2.2 to –1.2 and a diagonal sequence (group II) with horizontal branches changing from the blue to the red parallel with an increase of metallicity from –1.8 to –1.0. The differences in horizontal branch morphology of both cluster groups are probably caused by the difference in age, which is found to be of the order 1–2 billion years. It is shown that integrated reddening-free quantitiesQ and integrated spectral types cannot be used to determine metalicity without a previous division of clusters into groups.