Probing the nuclear star cluster of galaxies with extremely large telescopes

Gullieuszik, Marco; Greggio, L.; Falomo, R.; Schreiber, Laura; Uslenghi, M.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201424279

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…With these values, we find m ≈ 17.6, whereas the limiting magnitude on the E-ELT's IR camera (MI-CADO) after 5 hours of integration time in the J, H, and K bands are 30.8, 30.8 and 29.8 respectively (Davies et al 2010). Additionally, the photometric uncertainties calculated by Gullieuszik et al (2014) in the reddest bands of I and H are lower than ∼1 × 10 −3 . This value is lower than the (R p /R * ) 2 ∼ 2 × 10 −3 − 2.5 × 10 −3 for a sub-Neptune sized HEC transiting a Sun-like star.…”

Section: Implications For Observationsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Habitable Evaporated Cores and the Occurrence of Panspermia Near the Galactic Center

Chen

Forbes

Loeb

2018

ApJL

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Black holes growing via the accretion of gas emit radiation that can photoevaporate the atmospheres of nearby planets. Here we couple planetary structural evolution models of sub-Neptune mass planets to the growth of the Milky way's central supermassive black-hole, Sgr A * and investigate how planetary evolution is influenced by quasar activity. We find that, out to ∼20 pc from Sgr A * , the XUV flux emitted during its quasar phase can remove several percent of a planet's H/He envelope by mass; in many cases, this removal results in bare rocky cores, many of which situated in the habitable zones (HZs) of G-type stars. Near the Galactic Center, the erosion of sub-Neptune sized planets may be one of the most prevalent channels by which terrestrial super-Earths are created. As such, the planet population demographics may be quite different close to Sgr A * than in the galactic outskirts. The high stellar densities in this region (about seven orders of magnitude greater than the solar neighborhood) imply that the distance between neighboring rocky worlds is short (500 − 5000 AU). The proximity between potentially habitable terrestrial planets may enable the onset of widespread interstellar panspermia near the nuclei of our galaxy. More generally, we predict these phenomena to be ubiquitous for planets in nuclear star clusters and ultra-compact dwarfs. Globular clusters, on the other hand, are less affected by the central black holes.

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Section: Implications For Observationsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Habitable Evaporated Cores and the Occurrence of Panspermia Near the Galactic Center

Chen

Forbes

Loeb

2018

ApJL

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“…Thus, the results of our models imply that "undermassive" NSCs in galaxies with bulge mass M bulge ≈ 10 10 M ⊙ might still carry an imprint of the merger history of their host galaxy, in the form of a density core that extends out to a small fraction of the central MBH influence radius. Whether these NSCs will turn out to harbor parsec-scale cores will be addressed in the future with high resolution imaging, which will enable to resolve the crowded stellar environment of NSCs (Gullieuszik et al 2014).…”

Section: Galaxy Cores and Cusp Regenerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Coevolution of Nuclear Star Clusters, Massive Black Holes, and Their Host Galaxies

Antonini

Barausse

Silk

2015

ApJ

183

212

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Studying how nuclear star clusters (NSCs) form and how they are related to the growth of the central massive black holes (MBHs) and their host galaxies is fundamental for our understanding of the evolution of galaxies and the processes that have shaped their central structures. We present the results of a semi-analytical galaxy formation model that follows the evolution of dark matter halos along merger trees, as well as that of the baryonic components. This model allows us to study the evolution of NSCs in a cosmological context, by taking into account the growth of NSCs due to both dynamical friction-driven migration of stellar clusters and star formation triggered by infalling gas, while also accounting for dynamical heating from (binary) MBHs. We find that in-situ star formation contributes a significant fraction (up to ∼ 80% ) of the total mass of NSCs in our model. Both NSC growth through in-situ star formation and through star cluster migration are found to generate NSC -host galaxy scaling correlations that are shallower than the same correlations for MBHs. We explore the role of galaxy mergers on the evolution of NSCs, and show that observational data on NSC -host galaxy scaling relations provide evidence of partial erosion of NSCs by MBH binaries in luminous galaxies. We show that this observational feature is reproduced by our models, and we make predictions about the NSC and MBH occupation fraction in galaxies. We conclude by discussing several implications for theories of NSC formation.

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“…MICADO will extend the sample volume from the Local Group out to the Virgo Cluster and, through its capability to perform photometry in crowded fields, push the analysis of the stellar populations deeper into the centres of these galaxies where JWST cannot. [10][11][12][13] The excellent performance of MICADO in crowded fields and its large field of view are also key to understanding star formation itself, whether in nearby galaxies or galactic star clusters. Deep multi-colour images will provide a detailed census of stellar types and ages in a variety of star forming environments, yielding important results about the form of the initial mass function.…”

Section: Resolved Stellar Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

MICADO: first light imager for the E-ELT

et al. 2016

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MICADO will equip the E-ELT with a first light capability for diffraction limited imaging at near-infrared wavelengths. The instrument's observing modes focus on various flavours of imaging, including astrometric, high contrast, and time resolved. There is also a single object spectroscopic mode optimised for wavelength coverage at moderately high resolution. This contribution provides an overview of the key functionality of the instrument, outlining the scientific rationale for its observing modes. The interface between MICADO and the adaptive optics system MAORY that feeds it is summarised. The design of the instrument is discussed, focussing on the optics and mechanisms inside the cryostat, together with a brief overview of the other key sub-systems.

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Probing the nuclear star cluster of galaxies with extremely large telescopes

Cited by 17 publications

References 29 publications

Habitable Evaporated Cores and the Occurrence of Panspermia Near the Galactic Center

Habitable Evaporated Cores and the Occurrence of Panspermia Near the Galactic Center

The Coevolution of Nuclear Star Clusters, Massive Black Holes, and Their Host Galaxies

MICADO: first light imager for the E-ELT

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