The origin of the Milky Way globular clusters

Florent Renaud, Oscar Agertz, Mark Gieles

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We present a cosmological zoom-in simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy used to explore the formation and evolution of star clusters. We investigate in particular the origin of the bimodality observed in the colour and metallicity of globular clusters, and the environmental evolution through cosmic times in the form of tidal tensors. Our results self-consistently confirm previous findings that the blue, metal-poor clusters form in satellite galaxies that are accreted on to the Milky Way, while the red, metal-rich clusters form mostly in situ, or, to a lower extent, in massive, self-enriched galaxies merging with the Milky Way. By monitoring the tidal fields these populations experience, we find that clusters formed in situ (generally centrally concentrated) feel significantly stronger tides than the accreted ones, both in the present day, and when averaged over their entire life. Furthermore, we note that the tidal field experienced by Milky Way clusters is significantly weaker in the past than at present day, confirming that it is unlikely that a power-law cluster initial mass function like that of young massive clusters, is transformed into the observed peaked distribution in the Milky Way with relaxation-driven evaporation in a tidal field.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)3622-3636
    Number of pages15
    JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
    Volume465
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017 Jan 1

    Subject classification (UKÄ)

    • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

    Free keywords

    • Galaxies: formation
    • Galaxies: star clusters: general
    • Methods: numerical

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