Bibcode
Leaman, R.; VandenBerg, Don A.; Mendel, J. Trevor
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 436, Issue 1, p.122-135
Advertised on:
11
2013
Citations
197
Refereed citations
174
Description
We use recently derived ages for 61 Milky Way (MW) globular clusters
(GCs) to show that their age-metallicity relation (AMR) can be divided
into two distinct, parallel sequences at [Fe/H] ≳ -1.8.
Approximately one-third of the clusters form an offset sequence that
spans the full range in age (˜10.5-13 Gyr), but is more metal rich
at a given age by ˜0.6 dex in [Fe/H]. All but one of the clusters
in the offset sequence show orbital properties that are consistent with
membership in the MW disc. They are not simply the most metal-rich GCs,
which have long been known to have disc-like kinematics, but they are
the most metal-rich clusters at all ages. The slope of the
mass-metallicity relation (MMR) for galaxies implies that the offset in
metallicity of the two branches of the AMR corresponds to a mass
decrement of 2 dex, suggesting host galaxy masses of M_{*} ˜
107-108 { M_{⊙}} for GCs that belong to the
more metal poor AMR. We suggest that the metal-rich branch of the AMR
consists of clusters that formed in situ in the disc, while the
metal-poor GCs were formed in relatively low-mass (dwarf) galaxies and
later accreted by the MW. The observed AMR of MW disc stars, and of the
Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud and WLM dwarf galaxies,
is shown to be consistent with this interpretation, and the relative
distribution of implied progenitor masses for the halo GC clusters is in
excellent agreement with the MW subhalo mass function predicted by
simulations. A notable implication of the bifurcated AMR is that the
identical mean ages and spread in ages, for the metal-rich and
metal-poor GCs, are difficult to reconcile with an in situ formation for
the latter population.
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