On The Origin of the Blue Tilt in Extragalactic Globular Cluster Systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates the blue tilt phenomenon in extragalactic globular clusters, proposing that self-enrichment processes can explain the observed correlation between cluster brightness and metallicity.

Contribution

It introduces a self-enrichment model to explain the blue tilt and discusses its predictive implications for globular cluster systems.

Findings

Self-enrichment can account for the blue tilt.

The model predicts specific metallicity-mass relationships.

Implications for the formation history of globular clusters.

Abstract

Some early-type galaxies show a correlation between color and integrated magnitude among the brighter metal-poor globular clusters (GCs). This phenomenon, known as the blue tilt, implies a mass-metallicity relationship among these clusters. In this paper we show that self-enrichment in GCs can explain several aspects of the blue tilt, and discuss predictions of this scenario.