Spectroscopic Property of the Globular Clusters in Giant Elliptical Galaxy M86

  • Published : 2012.04.03

Abstract

We present a spectroscopic study of the globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxy (gE) M86 in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Using the spectra obtained from the Multi-Object Spectroscopy (MOS) mode of Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph (FOCAS) on the Subaru Telescope, we measured the radial velocities of 25 GCs, the metallicities of 16 GCs, and the ages of 8 GCs in M86. The mean velocity and the vocity dispersion of the GCs are < ${\upsilon}_p$ > = -354 ${\pm}$ 80 km/s and ${\sigma}_p$ = 292 ${\pm}$ 32km/s, respectively. The M86 GC system shows some rotation with a large uncertainty and the velocity dispersion of the blue GC system is 60 km/s larger than that of the red GC system. The mean metallicity and age of M86 GCs are <[Fe/H]> = -1.13 ${\pm}$ 0.47 and = 9.7 ${\pm}$ 4.0 Gyr, respectively. We found one GC younger than 5 Gyr. We discuss the spectroscopic results of the M86 GC system in comparison with the GC systems in other gEs.

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