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arXiv 0807.0003astro-ph
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回顾过去:球状星团的近期演化

A Glimpse into the Past: The Recent Evolution of Globular Clusters

Jasonjot S. Kalirai, Jay Strader, Harvey B. Richer, Jay Anderson

摘要:

我们提出了195个河外球状星团(GC)的偶然发现,在有史以来最深的光学图像之一,126轨道HST/ACS成像研究附近的银河系GC NGC 6397。遥远的GC都被发现围绕着一个明亮的椭圆星系,并且是图像中检测到的最暗的物体之一,其星等为26 <F814 W < 30。我们测量的红移的母椭圆星系,使用GMOS双子座南,是z = 0.089(375 Mpc)。因此,这个星系及其相关的星系团是迄今为止发现的最遥远的此类系统之一。从这些星系团中测量到的光是在1.2 Gyr前(回望时间)发出的,因此光学性质为理解GCs在过去Gyr的演变提供了线索。我们测量的颜色函数的明亮的GC和发现,蓝色和红色的人口存在,每个子人口的颜色比GC在本地椭圆星系的光度可比红。对于蓝色星团,从z = 0.089到今天观察到的色差仅略大于恒星演化的预测(例如,主层序断陷的亮度和颜色的变化以及水平分支的形态)。在红色星团中发现了更大的色差,这可能表明它们非常富含金属和/或比12 Gyr年轻。

英文摘要:

We present the serendipitous discovery of 195 extragalactic globular clusters (GCs) in one of the deepest optical images ever obtained, a 126 orbit HST/ACS imaging study of the nearby Galactic GC NGC 6397. The distant GCs are all found surrounding a bright elliptical galaxy in the field, and are among the faintest objects detected in the image, with magnitudes 26 < F814W < 30. We measure the redshift of the parent elliptical galaxy, using GMOS on Gemini South, to be z = 0.089 (375 Mpc). This galaxy, and its associated clusters, therefore ranks as one of the most distant such systems discovered to date. The measured light from these clusters was emitted 1.2 Gyr ago (the lookback time) and therefore the optical properties hold clues for understanding the evolution of GCs over the past Gyr. We measure the color function of the bright GCs and find that both a blue and red population exist, and that the colors of each sub-population are redder than GCs in local elliptical galaxies of comparable luminosity. For the blue clusters, the observed color difference from z = 0.089 to today is only slightly larger than predictions from stellar evolution (e.g., changes in the luminosity and color of the main-sequence turnoff and the morphology of the horizontal branch). A larger color difference is found in the red clusters, possibly suggesting that they are very metal-rich and/or significantly younger than 12 Gyr.

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