THE RICHNESS OF THE GLOBULAR-CLUSTER SYSTEM OF NGC-3923 - CLUES TO ELLIPTIC GALAXY FORMATION

Citation
Se. Zepf et al., THE RICHNESS OF THE GLOBULAR-CLUSTER SYSTEM OF NGC-3923 - CLUES TO ELLIPTIC GALAXY FORMATION, The Astrophysical journal, 435(2), 1994, pp. 120000117-120000120
Citations number
36
Categorie Soggetti
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Journal title
ISSN journal
0004637X
Volume
435
Issue
2
Year of publication
1994
Part
2
Pages
120000117 - 120000120
Database
ISI
SICI code
0004-637X(1994)435:2<120000117:TROTGS>2.0.ZU;2-L
Abstract
We present new data on the globular cluster system of the elliptical g alaxy NGC 3923 which show that it has the most globular clusters per u nit luminosity of any noncluster elliptical yet observed, with S-N = 6 .4 +/- 1.4. NGC 3923 is also among the brightest ellipticals outside o f a galaxy cluster for which the number of globular clusters has been determined. Our observation of a large number of clusters per unit lum inosity (high S-N-value) for a bright elliptical in a sparse environme nt is consistent with the suggestion of Djorgovski and Santiago that t he number of globular clusters is a power-law function of the luminosi ty with an exponent greater than 1. We relate this higher specific fre quency of globular clusters in more luminous galaxies to other observa tions which indicate that the physical conditions within elliptical ga laxies at the time of their formation were dependent on galaxy mass.