2012/09/14 by Paul Goudfrooij, Goudfrooij, Paul, Jean P. Brodie +17
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #Near-Field Optical Microscopy #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1209.3188
openalex publication_date 2012/09/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Star formation plays a central role in the evolution of galaxies and of the\nUniverse as a whole. Studies of star-forming regions in the local universe have\nshown that star formation typically occurs in a clustered fashion. Building a\ncoherent picture of how star clusters form and evolve is therefore critical to\nour overall understanding of the star formation process. Most clusters disrupt\nafter they form, thus contributing to the field star population. However, the\nmost massive and dense clusters remain bound and survive for a Hubble time.\nThese globular clusters provide unique observational probes of the formation\nhistory of their host galaxies. In particular, the age and metallicity can be\ndetermined for each globular cluster individually, allowing the distribution of\nages and metallicities within host galaxies to be constrained. We show how\nspace-based UV-to-near-IR imaging covering a wide field of view (>= 20 arcmin\nper axis) and deep UV/Optical multi-object spectroscopy of globular cluster\nsystems in nearby galaxies would allow one to place important new constraints\non the formation history of early-type galaxies and their structural\nsubcomponents (e.g., bulge, halo).\n