Dynamical families in the Galactic globular cluster system
Open Access
- 11 March 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Vol. 279 (2) , 337-348
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/279.2.337
Abstract
The halo Galactic globular clusters (GCs) lying inside the solar circle (inner: RGC < 8 kpc, [Fe/H] < — 0.8) are shown to keep no record of the strong correlation between the GC absolute integrated magnitudes and core parameters (concentration and central density) clearly detected for the halo GCs lying outside this circle (outer) and (at lower statistical significance) for those belonging to the disc population ([Fe/H]> −0.8). We present here both observational evidence and theoretical simulations supporting the hypothesis of a primordial origin for the existence of such correlations and of an environment-induced destruction of them if absent. In particular, this hypothesis leads us to argue that inner halo GCs have undergone a chaotic, environment-driven, dynamical evolution not shared by the disc GCs, although the radial zone of the Galaxy occupied by the two groups is nearly the same.Keywords
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