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Cited by 318Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, PhenomenaStellar, planetary, and galactic studiesAstrophysics and Star Formation Studies

Globular clusters as the relics of regular star formation in ‘normal’ high-redshift galaxies

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Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik·2015·Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DOI 10.1093/mnras/stv2026
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Abstract

We present an end-to-end, two-phase model for the origin of globular clusters (GCs). In the model, populations of stellar clusters form in the high-pressure discs of high-redshift ($z>2$) galaxies (a rapid-disruption phase due to tidal perturbations from the dense interstellar medium), after which the galaxy mergers associated with hierarchical galaxy formation redistribute the surviving, massive clusters into the galaxy haloes, where they remain until the present day (a slow-disruption phase due to tidal evaporation). The high galaxy merger rates of $z>2$ galaxies allow these clusters to be `liberated' into the galaxy haloes before they are disrupted within the high-density discs. This physically-motivated toy model is the first to include the rapid-disruption phase, which is shown to be essential for simultaneously reproducing the wide variety of properties of observed GC systems, such as their universal characteristic mass-scale, the dependence of the specific frequency on metallicity and galaxy mass, the GC system mass-halo mass relation, the constant number of GCs per unit supermassive black hole mass, and the colour bimodality of GC systems. The model predicts that most of these observables were already in place at $z=1$-$2$, although under rare circumstances GCs may still form in present-day galaxies. In addition, the model provides important constraints on models for multiple stellar populations in GCs by putting limits on initial GC masses and the amount of pristine gas accretion. The paper is concluded with a discussion of these and several other predictions and implications, as well as the main open questions in the field.

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  • The scaling relations between the number of GCs and the host galaxy mass evolve with redshift.

    “suggesting that the scaling relations between the number of GCs and the host galaxy mass evolve with redshift (e.g. Kruijssen 2015; Choksi & Gnedin 2019, Bastian et al. in prep.).”

    From Kraken reveals itself – the merger history of the Milky Way reconstructed with the E-MOSAICS simulations (2020) · cites this paper as Kruijssen 2015

    Section 4.3 (pp. 14–15) says the relation between GC number per unit stellar mass and host-galaxy mass is established by the end of the rapid-disruption phase and evolves very little afterward, except for the most metal-rich GCs. Section 5.2 (p. 18) likewise predicts that relations between GC number and host-galaxy properties were already in place at redshift 1–2. The paper therefore predicts little subsequent evolution, rather than a generally evolving scaling relation. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Kruijssen J. M. D., 2013, arXiv:1304.4600 · arXiv

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Authors
Kruijssen, J. M. D.
Affiliations
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (DE)
Corresponding author
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
ORCID
Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik
Venue
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2015-10-06
Volume
454
Issue
2
Pages
1658-1686
ISSN
  • 0035-8711 (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2966
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stv2026
OpenAlex
W2167450888
Cited by
318
References
252
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1
FWCI
19.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
Keywords
globular clusters, globular cluster origin, high-redshift galaxies, galaxy mergers, tidal disruption, galaxy halos, cluster mass function, specific frequency, supermassive black holes, multiple stellar populations, hierarchical galaxy formation, disk galaxies

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