The contribution of dissolving star clusters to the population of ultra-faint objects in the outer halo of the Milky Way

TL;DR

This study investigates how dissolving star clusters contribute to the population of ultra-faint objects in the Milky Way's outer halo, using models and observations to distinguish their origins from dwarf galaxies.

Contribution

It quantifies the number of star clusters in the outer halo and models their evolution to show how they can resemble ultra-faint dwarf galaxies.

Findings

Star clusters contribute to both compact and extended UFO populations.

Clusters with black holes have larger radii, resembling dwarf galaxies.

The stellar mass function slope and cold streams can differentiate origins.

Abstract

In the last decade, several ultra faint objects (UFOs, $M_V\gtrsim-3.5$) have been discovered in the outer halo of the Milky Way. For some of these objects it is not clear whether they are star clusters or (ultra-faint) dwarf galaxies. In this work we quantify the contribution of star clusters to the population of UFOs. We extrapolated the mass and Galactocentric radius distribution of the globular clusters using a population model, finding that the Milky Way contains about $3.3^{+7.3}_{-1.6}$ star clusters with $M_V\gtrsim-3.5$ and Galactocentric radius $\geq20\,$kpc. To understand whether dissolving clusters can appear as UFOs, we run a suite of direct $N$-body models, varying the orbit, the Galactic potential, the binary fraction and the black hole (BH) natal kick velocities. In the analyses, we consider observational biases such as: luminosity limit, field stars, and line-of-sight projection. We find that star clusters contribute to both the compact and the extended population of UFOs: clusters without BHs appear compact with radii $\sim5\,$pc, while clusters that retain their BHs after formation have radii $\gtrsim20\,$pc. The properties of the extended clusters are remarkably similar to those of dwarf galaxies: high inferred mass-to-light ratios due to binaries; binary properties mildly affected by dynamical evolution; no observable mass segregation; and flattened stellar mass function. We conclude that the slope of the stellar mass function as a function of Galactocentric radius and the presence/absence of cold streams can discriminate between DM free and DM dominated UFOs.