Intra-cluster Globular Clusters in a Simulated Galaxy Cluster

Understand

Using a cosmological dark matter simulation of a galaxy-cluster halo, we follow the temporal evolution of its globular cluster population.

• To mimic the red and blue globular cluster populations, we select at high redshift $(z\sim 1)$ two sets of particles from individual galactic halos constrained by the fact that, at redshift $z=0$, they have density profiles similar to observed ones.
• At redshift $z=0$, approximately 60\% of our selected globular clusters were removed from their original halos building up the intra-cluster globular cluster population, while the remaining 40\% are still gravitationally bound to their original galactic halos.
• Since the blue population is more extended than the red one, the intra-cluster globular cluster population is dominated by blue globular clusters, with a relative fraction that grows from 60\% at redshift $z=0$ up to 83\% for redshift $z\sim 2$.