Scaling relations for globular cluster systems in early-type galaxies

Abstract

ABSTRACT The formation and growth of globular cluster systems (GCSs) is closely related to the evolutionary processes experienced by their host galaxies. In particular, their radial distributions scale with several properties of the galaxies and their haloes. We performed a photometric study, by means of HST/ACS archival data of several intermediate luminosity galaxies located in low-density environments. It was supplemented with available photometric data of GCSs from the Virgo and Fornax clusters, resulting in a sample of almost 30 GCSs for which we fitted their radial profiles. The resulting overall properties agree with those from previous studies, as we found that the effective radius, extension, and concentration of the GCS radial profiles correlate with the stellar mass, effective radius, and number of globular clusters, presenting in some cases a bilinear relation. The extension also correlates with the central velocity dispersion for central galaxies, but not for satellites. From a statistical comparison with numerical simulations we obtained good agreement between the effective radius and extension of the GCS scale with the effective and virial radius of the haloes, respectively. Finally, we analysed these results in the literature context.