Globular Cluster Systems in Brightest Cluster Galaxies. II: NGC 6166

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed analysis of the globular cluster system in NGC 6166, revealing a broad metallicity distribution, extensive spatial reach, and distinct properties of red and blue clusters, challenging traditional formation models.

Contribution

It offers new deep photometric data and analysis of the GCS in NGC 6166, highlighting the complex metallicity and spatial distributions in a supergiant galaxy.

Findings

Total clusters: 39,000 ± 2,000

57% of clusters are blue, metal-poor

Red clusters follow galaxy light closely

Abstract

We present new deep photometry of the globular cluster system (GCS) around NGC 6166, the central supergiant galaxy in Abell 2199. HST data from the ACS and WFC3 cameras in F475W, F814W are used to determine the spatial distribution of the GCS, its metallicity distribution function (MDF), and the dependence of the MDF on galactocentric radius and on GC luminosity. The MDF is extremely broad, with the classic red and blue subpopulations heavily overlapped, but a double-Gaussian model can still formally match the MDF closely. The spatial distribution follows a Sersic-like profile detectably to a projected radius of at least $R_{gc} = 250$ kpc. To that radius, the total number of clusters in the system is N_{GC} = 39000 +- 2000, the global specific frequency is S_N = 11.2 +- 0.6, and 57\% of the total are blue, metal-poor clusters. The GCS may fade smoothly into the Intra-Cluster Medium of A2199; we see no clear transition from the core of the galaxy to the cD halo or the ICM. The radial distribution, projected ellipticity, and mean metallicity of the red (metal-richer) clusters match the halo light extremely well for R > 15 kpc, both of them varying as \sigma_{MRGC} ~ \sigma_{light} ~ R^-1.8. By comparison, the blue (metal-poor) GC component has a much shallower falloff \sigma_{MPGC} ~ R^-1.0 and a more nearly spherical distribution. This strong difference in their density distributions produces a net metallicity gradient in the GCS as a whole that is primarily generated by the population gradient. With NGC 6166 we appear to be penetrating into a regime of high enough galaxy mass and rich enough environment that the bimodal two-phase description of GC formation is no longer as clear or effective as it has been in smaller galaxies.