A. Sippel Abstract

Globular Cluster Sizes and Metallicity

A. Sippel (ESO/Swinburne University)

While it has been known for a long time that the sizes of globular clusters within our galaxy correlate to their galactocentric distances, more recently it has also been found that blue, metal-poor clusters are on average larger than red, metal-rich clusters in nearby galaxies. This has generated a debate on the origin of these size differences. Using direct N-body simulations of globular clusters with different metallicities, we can distinguish between structural and apparent (i.e. mass versus light) differences and find that metallicity alone can reproduce size differences as observed.