The orbital anisotropy profiles of nearby globular clusters from Gaia Data Release 2
Abstract
Gaia Data Release 2 provides a wealth of data to study the internal structure of nearby globular clusters (GCs). We use this data to investigate the internal kinematics of 10 nearby GCs, with a particular focus on their poorly studied outer regions. We apply a strict set of selection criteria to remove contaminating sources and create pure cluster-member samples over a significant fraction of the radial range of each cluster. We confirm previous measurements of rotation (or a lack thereof) in the inner regions of several clusters, while extending the detection of rotation well beyond where it was previously measured and finding a steady decrease in rotation with radius. We also determine the orbital anisotropy profile and determine that clusters have isotropic cores, are radially anisotropic out to ≈4 half-light radii or 35{{ per cent}} of their limiting radii, and are then isotropic out to the limits of our data sets. We detect for the first time the presence of radial anisotropy in M 22, while confirming previous detections of radial anisotropy in 47 Tuc, M 13, M 15, and ω Cen's innermost regions. The implications of these measurements are that clusters can be separated into two categories: (1) clusters with observed radial anisotropy that likely formed tidally underfilling or are dynamically young, and (2) clusters that are primarily isotropic that likely formed tidally filling or are dynamically old.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- August 2019
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1903.11070
- Bibcode:
- 2019MNRAS.487.3693J
- Keywords:
-
- methods: data analysis;
- astrometry;
- stars: kinematics and dynamics;
- globular clusters: general;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 10 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to MNRAS