DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF THE M87 GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEM

作者：Kim Sungsoo S^*; Shin Jihye; Jin Ho

来源：Journal of the Korean Astronomical Society, 2010, 43(4): 105-113.

• stellar dynamics
• Galaxy: globular clusters: general
• Galaxy: evolution
• Galaxy: formation
• Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics

We study the dynamical evolution of the M87 globular cluster (GC) system using the most advanced and realistic Fokker-Planck (FP) model. By comparing our FP models with both mass MF) and radial distribution (RD) of the observed GC system, we find the best-fit initial (at M87's age of 2-3 Gyr) MF and RD for three GC groups: all GCs, blue GCs, and red GCs. We estimate the initial total mass in GCs to be 1.8(-0.2)(+0.3) x 10(10) M circle dot, which is about 100 times larger than that of the Milky Way GC system. We also find that the fraction of the total mass currently in GCs is 34%. When blue and red GCs are fitted separately, blue GCs initially have a larger total mass and a shallower radial distribution than red GCs. If one assumes that most of the significant major merger events of M87 have ended by the age of 2-3 Gyr, our finding that blue (metal-poor) GCs initially had a shallower radial distribution supports the major merger scenario for the origin of metallicity bimodality.

• 出版日期2010-8-31