1997/11/14 by Duncan A. Forbes, Duncan Forbes, Forbes, Duncan
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9711165
4 pages, Latex, 2 figures, submitted to IAU 186
arxiv created 1997/11/14 · openalex publication_date 1997/11/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Understanding the formation of globular clusters will help us to constrain the evolutionary history of galaxies. For mergers on-going today, it appears that the number of newly created proto-globulars varies with the progenitor types and that the percentage increase in the total cluster population is 100% or less. Elliptical galaxies, which are generally thought to be the end-result of such mergers, often show evidence for two populations of globular clusters. This has been taken as support for the merger picture but we show that there are several problems when examined in detail. Strong evidence for an elliptical galaxy with a single population of globular clusters is also presented. Implications for galaxy formation are briefly mentioned.