• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.173-181
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• 2013

We trace the dynamical evolution of dark matter (DM) content in NGC 6397, one of the native Galactic globular clusters (GCs). The relatively strong tidal field (Galactocentric radius of ~ 6 kpc) and short relaxation timescale (~0.3 Gyr) of the cluster can cause a significant amount of DM particles to evaporate from the cluster in the Hubble time. Thus, the cluster can initially contain a non-negligible amount of DM. Using the most advanced Fokker-Planck (FP) method, we calculate the dynamical evolution of GCs for numerous initial conditions to determine the maximum initial DM content in NGC 6397 that matches the present-day brightness and velocity dispersion profiles of the cluster. We find that the maximum allowed initial DM mass is slightly less than the initial stellar mass in the cluster. Our findings imply that NGC 6397 did not initially contain a significant amount of DM, and is similar to that of NGC 2419, the remotest and the most massive Galactic GC.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.203-224
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• 2013

Wide-field $JHK_s$ images obtained with the SIRIUS near-infrared camera of the IRSF 1.4m telescope are used to examine the tidal structures of the spatial stellar configuration around six metal-poor ([Fe/H]< -1.0) globular clusters located within 3 kpc from the Galactic center. The radial surface density profiles are obtained from the surface photometry of the cluster images and the star counting for the photometric data. For the star counting, candidates of cluster member stars are selected with an filtering algorithm in color-magnitude diagrams. We find that the six target clusters show tidal overdensity features in the radial surface density profiles. There is a break inside the tidal radius for each cluster, and the profile in the outer overdensity region is characterized by a power law. Two-dimensional density maps of all the clusters show distorted asymmetric stellar configurations in the outer region. In five out of the six target clusters, the overdensity features are likely to be associated with the effects of the Galaxy dynamical interaction and the cluster space motions. The observed tidal configurations of stars suggest that several metal-poor clusters in the Galactic bulge are possibly surviving remnants of mergers to build the old stellar system of the Galactic bulge.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.67.2-67.2
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• 2014

The presence of multiple populations is now well-established in most globular clusters in the Milky Way. In light of this progress, here we suggest a new model explaining the origin of the Sandage period-shift and the difference in mean period of type ab RR Lyrae variables between the two Oosterhoff groups. In our models, the instability strip in the metal-poor group II clusters, such as M15, is populated by second generation stars (G2) with enhanced helium and CNO abundances, while the RR Lyraes in the relatively metal-rich group I clusters like M3 are mostly produced by first generation stars (G1) without these enhancements. This population shift within the instability strip with metallicity can create the observed period-shift between the two groups, since both helium and CNO abundances play a role in increasing the period of RR Lyrae variables. The presence of more metal-rich clusters having Oosterhoff-intermediate characteristics, such as NGC 1851, as well as of most metal-rich clusters having RR Lyraes with longest periods (group III) can also be reproduced, as more helium-rich third and later generations of stars (G3) penetrate into the instability strip with further increase in metallicity. Therefore, although there are systems where the suggested population shift cannot be a viable explanation, for the most general cases, our models predict that the RR Lyraes are produced mostly by G1, G2, and G3, respectively, for the Oosterhoff groups I, II, and III.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.105-113
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• 2010

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 function (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 $1.8^{+0.3}_{-0.2}{\times}10^{10}M_{\bigodot}$, 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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.37.2-37.2
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• 2019

Recent investigations of the double red clump in the color-magnitude diagram of the Milky Way bulge cast serious doubts on the structure and formation origin of the outer bulge. Unlike previous interpretation based on an X-shaped bulge, stellar evolution models and CN-band observations have suggested that this feature is another manifestation of the multiple stellar population phenomenon observed in globular clusters (GCs). This new scenario requires a significant fraction of the outer bulge stars with chemical patterns uniquely observed in GCs. Here we show from homogeneous high-quality spectroscopic data that the red giant branch stars in the outer bulge ($>5.5^{\circ}$ from the Galactic center) are clearly divided into two groups according to Na abundance in the [Na/Fe] - [Fe/H] plane. The Na-rich stars are also enhanced in Al, while the differences in O and Mg are not observed between the two Na groups. The population ratio and the Na and Al differences between the two groups are also comparable with those observed in metal-rich GCs. Since these chemical patterns and characteristics are only explained by stars originated in GCs, this is compelling evidence that the outer bulge was mostly assembled from disrupted proto-GCs in the early history of the Milky Way. We will also discuss the implications of this result on the formation of the early-type galaxies in general.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.30.2-30.2
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• 2013

The mean color of globular cluster (GCs) systems in early-type galaxies (ETGs) is, in general, bluer than the integrated color of field stars in their host galaxies. Recently, Goudfrooij & Kruijssen (2013) reported that even red GCs in the ETGs show bluer colors than their host field stars and suggested the different initial mass function (IMF) for red GCs and field stars to explain the observed offset in color. Here we suggest an alternative scenario that explains the observed color offsets between red GCs in ETGs and the field stars in the parent galaxies without invoking to the variation of the IMF. We find that the inclusion of second-generation (SG) helium-enhanced populations in the model fully explains the observed color offset between red GCs and field stars in the host galaxies. We have also tested the effect of the IMF slope on our models, but the effect is relatively small compared to the effect of the SG population. Our new model suggests that, in order to explain far-UV strong metal-rich GCs in M87 and the observed color offset between metal-rich GCs and the field stars in ETGs simultaneously, the inclusion of the SG populations with enhanced helium abundance is a more natural solution than the model that only adopted variations in the IMF.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.111-121
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• 2000

Many models of globular cluster formation assume the presence of cold dense clouds in early universe. Here we re-examine the Fall & Rees (1985) model for formation of proto-globular cluster clouds (PGCCs) via thermal instabilities in a protogalactic halo. We first argue, based on the previous study of two-dimensional numerical simulations of thermally unstable clouds in a stratified halo of galaxy clusters by Real et al. (1991), that under the protogalactic environments only nonlinear (${\delta}{\ge}1$) density inhomogeneities can condense into PGCCs without being disrupted by the buoyancy-driven dynamical instabilities. We then carry out numerical simulations of the collapse of overdense douds in one-dimensional spherical geometry, including self-gravity and radiative cooling down to T = $10^4$ K. Since imprinting of Jeans mass at $10^4$ K is essential to this model, here we focus on the cases where external UV background radiation prevents the formation of $H_2$ molecules and so prevent the cloud from cooling below $10^4$ K. The quantitative results from these simulations can be summarized as follows: 1) Perturbations smaller than $M_{min}\~(10^{5.6}\;M{\bigodot})(nh/0.05cm^{-3})^{-2}$ cool isobarically, where nh is the unperturbed halo density, while perturbations larger than $M_{min}\~(10^8\;M{\bigodot})(nh/0.05cm^{-3})^{-2}$ cool isochorically and thermal instabilities do not operate. On the other hand, intermediate size perturbations ($M_{min} < M_{pgcc} < M_{max}$) are compressed supersonically, accompanied by strong accretion shocks. 2) For supersonically collapsing clouds, the density compression factor after they cool to $T_c = 10^4$ K range $10^{2.5} - 10^6$, while the isobaric compression factor is only $10^{2.5}$. 3) Isobarically collapsed clouds ($M < M_{min}$) are too small to be gravitationally bound. For supersonically collapsing clouds, however, the Jeans mass can be reduced to as small as $10^{5.5}\;M_{\bigodot}(nh/0.05cm^{-3})^{-1/2}$ at the maximum compression owing to the increased density compression. 4) The density profile of simulated PGCCs can be approximated by a constant core with a halo of $p{\infty} r^{-2}$ rather than a singular isothermal sphere.