Extragalactic Globular Clusters: Old Spectroscopic Ages and New Views on Their Formation

Strader, Jay; Brodie, Jean P.; Cenarro, A. J.; Beasley, Michael A.; Forbes, Duncan A.
Bibliographical reference

The Astronomical Journal, Volume 130, Issue 4, pp. 1315-1323.

Advertised on:
10
2005
Number of authors
5
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
107
Refereed citations
100
Description
We present the results of a meta-analysis of Keck spectra of extragalactic globular clusters (GCs) in a sample of eight galaxies, ranging from dwarf galaxies to massive elliptical galaxies. We infer ages for the metal-poor and metal-rich GCs in these galaxies through comparisons to Galactic GCs. Both subpopulations appear to be no younger than their Galactic counterparts, with ages >~10 Gyr. This is the largest sample of galaxies for which ages have been constrained spectroscopically. Our results support the formation of most GCs in massive galaxies at high redshift. We propose a scenario for the formation of GC subpopulations that synthesizes aspects of both accretion and in situ approaches in the context of galaxy formation through hierarchical merging.