The AIMSS Project I: Bridging the Star Cluster - Galaxy Divide
Mark A. Norris, Sheila J. Kannappan, Duncan A. Forbes, Aaron J., Romanowsky, Jean P. Brodie, Favio Raul Faifer, Avon Huxor, Claudia Maraston,, Amanda J. Moffett, Samantha J. Penny, Vincenzo Pota, Analia Smith-Castelli,, Jay Strader, David Bradley, Kathleen D. Eckert

TL;DR
The AIMSS project uncovers a diverse range of compact stellar systems bridging star clusters and galaxies, revealing new insights into their properties, formation, and the continuum of their sizes and masses across different environments.
Contribution
This study presents the first comprehensive analysis of compact stellar systems spanning from globular clusters to compact ellipticals, challenging existing mass-size relations and proposing a new classification.
Findings
Discovered objects fill the gap between star clusters and galaxies.
Identified two classes of compact stellar systems: star clusters and galaxy-related objects.
Evidence for multiple formation pathways, including galaxy stripping processes.
Abstract
We describe the structural and kinematic properties of the first compact stellar systems discovered by the AIMSS project. These spectroscopically confirmed objects have sizes (6 R [pc] 500) and masses (210 M/M 610) spanning the range of massive globular clusters (GCs), ultra compact dwarfs (UCDs) and compact elliptical galaxies (cEs), completely filling the gap between star clusters and galaxies. Several objects are close analogues to the prototypical cE, M32. These objects, which are more massive than previously discovered UCDs of the same size, further call into question the existence of a tight mass-size trend for compact stellar systems, while simultaneously strengthening the case for a universal "zone of avoidance" for dynamically hot stellar systems in the mass-size plane. Overall, we argue that…
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