The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. XVII. The Spatial Alignment of Globular Cluster Systems with Early-type Host Galaxies
Jordán, Andrés; Côté, Patrick; Peng, Eric W.; Ferrarese, Laura; Blakeslee, John P.; Mei, Simona; West, Michael J.; Wang, Qiushi
China, United States, Canada, Chile, France
Abstract
We study the azimuthal distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in early-type galaxies and compare them to their host galaxies using data from the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. We find that in host galaxies with visible elongation (epsilon > 0.2) and intermediate to high luminosities (Mz < -19), the GCs are preferentially aligned along the major axis of the stellar light. The red (metal-rich) GC subpopulations show strong alignment with the major axis of the host galaxy, which supports the notion that these GCs are associated with metal-rich field stars. The metal-rich GCs in lenticular galaxies show signs of being more strongly associated with disks rather than bulges. Surprisingly, we also find that the blue (metal-poor) GCs can also show the same correlation. If the metal-poor GCs are part of the early formation of the halo and built up through mergers, then our results support a picture where halo formation and merging occur anisotropically, and that the present-day major axis is an indicator of the preferred merging axis.
Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.