The Sizes of Globular Clusters as Tracers of Galactic Halo Potentials

TL;DR

This study uses N-body simulations to show that globular cluster sizes are primarily influenced by local galactic mass density rather than total halo mass, providing a potential method to constrain dark matter halo properties.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that globular cluster sizes depend on local density and halo concentration, not total halo mass, offering a new observational approach to study dark matter halos.

Findings

Cluster sizes are determined by local galactic density.

Inner halo clusters are more extended in less concentrated galaxies.

The size-distance relation is nearly independent of halo mass when considering correlated parameters.

Abstract

We present $N$-body simulations of globular clusters, exploring the effect of different galactic potentials on cluster sizes, $r_h$. For various galactocentric distances, $R_G$, we assess how cluster sizes change when we vary the virial mass and concentration of the host galaxy's dark-matter halo. We show that sizes of GCs are determined by the local galactic mass density rather than the virial mass of the host galaxy. We find that clusters evolving in the inner haloes of less concentrated galaxies are significantly more extended than those evolving in more concentrated ones, while the sizes of those orbiting in the outer halo are almost independent of concentration. Adding a baryonic component to our galaxy models does not change these results much, since its effect is only significant in the very inner halo. Our simulations suggest that there is a relation between $r_h$ and $R_G$, which systematically depends on the physical parameters of the halo. Hence, observing such relations in individual galaxies can put a new observational constraint on dark-matter halo characteristics. However, by varying the halo mass in a wide range of $10^{9}\leq M_{vir}/\msun \leq10^{13}$, we find that the $r_h-R_G$ relationship will be nearly independent of halo mass, if one assumes $M_{vir}$ and $c_{vir}$ as two correlated parameters, as is suggested by cosmological simulations.