The Effect of Dwarf Galaxies on the Tidal Tails of Globular Clusters

TL;DR

This study uses simulations to explore how dwarf galaxies influence the structure and appearance of globular cluster tidal tails, revealing three categories of effects and emphasizing the role of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Contribution

It introduces a classification of dwarf galaxy effects on globular cluster tails and highlights the impact of the Large Magellanic Cloud on tail morphology.

Findings

Dwarf galaxies can perturb cluster orbits and tail stars, creating observable features.

Tails are shorter and more compressed near apocentre in models with dwarf galaxies.

The Large Magellanic Cloud significantly influences tail structures.

Abstract

The tidal tails of globular clusters have been shown to be sensitive to the external tidal field. We investigate how Galactic globular clusters with observed tails are affected by satellite dwarf galaxies by simulating tails in galaxy models with and without dwarf galaxies. The simulations indicate that tidal tails can be subdivided into into three categories based on how they are affected by dwarf galaxies: 1) dwarf galaxies perturb the progenitor cluster's orbit (NGC 4590, Pal 1, Pal 5), 2) dwarf galaxies perturb the progenitor cluster's orbit and individual tail stars (NGC 362, NGC 1851, NGC 4147, NGC 5466, NGC 7492, Pal 14, Pal 15), and 3) dwarf galaxies negligibly affect tidal tails (NGC 288, NGC 5139, NGC 5904, Eridanus). Perturbations to a cluster's orbit occur when dwarf galaxies pass within its orbit, altering the size and shape of the orbital and tail path. Direct interactions between one or more dwarf galaxies and tail stars lead to kinks and spurs, however we find that features are more difficult to observe in projection. We further find that the tails of Pal 5 are shorter in the galaxy model with dwarf galaxies as it is closer to apocentre, which results in the tails being compressed. Additional simulations reveal that differences between tidal tails in the two galaxy models are primarily due to the Large Magellanic Cloud. Understanding how dwarf galaxies affect tidal tails allows for tails to be used to map the distribution of matter in dwarf galaxies and the Milky Way.