Bibcode
Marín-Franch, A.; Aparicio, A.; Piotto, Giampaolo; Rosenberg, A.; Chaboyer, Brian; Sarajedini, Ata; Siegel, Michael; Anderson, Jay; Bedin, Luigi R.; Dotter, Aaron; Hempel, Maren; King, Ivan; Majewski, Steven; Milone, Antonino P.; Paust, Nathaniel; Reid, I. Neill
Referencia bibliográfica
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 694, Issue 2, pp. 1498-1516 (2009).
Fecha de publicación:
4
2009
Revista
Número de citas
435
Número de citas referidas
390
Descripción
The ACS Survey of Galactic globular clusters is a Hubble Space Telescope
Treasury program designed to provide a new large, deep, and homogeneous
photometric database. Based on observations from this program, we have
measured precise relative ages for a sample of 64 Galactic globular
clusters by comparing the relative position of the clusters'
main-sequence (MS) turnoffs, using MS fitting to cross-compare clusters
within the sample. This method provides relative ages to a formal
precision of 2%-7%. We demonstrate that the calculated relative ages are
independent of the choice of theoretical model. We find that the
Galactic globular cluster sample can be divided into two groups—a
population of old clusters with an age dispersion of ~5% and no
age-metallicity relation, and a group of younger clusters with an
age-metallicity relation similar to that of the globular clusters
associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. These results are
consistent with the Milky Way halo having formed in two phases or
processes. The first one would be compatible with a rapid (<0.8 Gyr)
assembling process of the halo, in which the clusters in the old group
were formed. Also these clusters could have been formed before
re-ionization in dwarf galaxies that would later merge to build the
Milky Way halo as predicted by ΛCDM cosmology. However, the
galactocentric metallicity gradient shown by these clusters seems
difficult to reconcile with the latter. As for the younger clusters, it
is very tempting to argue that their origin is related to their
formation within Milky Way satellite galaxies that were later accreted,
but the origin of the age-metallicity relation remains unclear.
Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained
at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA,
Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555, under program GO-10775 (PI: A.
Sarajedini).
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