Browsing by Author "Miller, Bryan"

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    The GeMS/GSAOI Galactic Globular Cluster Survey (G4CS). II. Characterization of 47 Tuc with Bayesian Statistics
    (2023) Simunovic, Mirko; Puzia, Thomas H. H.; Miller, Bryan; Carrasco, Eleazar R. R.; Dotter, Aaron; Cassisi, Santi; Monty, Stephanie; Stetson, Peter
    We present a photometric analysis of globular cluster 47 Tuc (NGC 104) using near-IR imaging data from the GeMS/ GSAOI Galactic Globular Cluster Survey (G4CS), which is in operation at Gemini-South telescope. Our survey is designed to obtain AO-assisted deep imaging with near diffraction-limited spatial resolution of the central fields of MilkyWay globular clusters. The G4CS near-IR photometry was combined with an optical photometry catalog that was obtained from Hubble Space Telescope survey data to produce a high-quality color-magnitude diagram that reaches down to K-s approximate to 21 Vega mag. We used the software suite BASE-9, which uses an adaptive Metropolis sampling algorithm to perform a Markov chain Monte Carlo Bayesian analysis, and obtained probability distributions and precise estimates for the age, distance, and extinction cluster parameters. Our best estimate for the age of 47 Tuc is 12.42(-0.05)(+0.05)+/- 0.08 Gyr and our true distance modulus estimate is (m-M)0= 13.250-(+ 0.003)(-0.003) +/- 0.028 mag, which are in tight agreement with previous studies using Gaia DR2 parallax and detached eclipsing binaries.
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    The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. XXIII. Fundamentals of Nuclear Star Clusters over Seven Decades in Galaxy Mass
    (2019) Sanchez-Janssen, Ruben; Cote, Patrick; Ferrarese, Laura; Peng, Eric W.; Roediger, Joel; Blakeslee, John P.; Emsellem, Eric; Puzia, Thomas H.; Spengler, Chelsea; Taylor, James; Alamo-Martinez, Karla A.; Boselli, Alessandro; Cantiello, Michele; Cuillandre, Jean-Charles; Duc, Pierre-Alain; Durrell, Patrick; Gwyn, Stephen; MacArthur, Lauren A.; Lancon, Ariane; Lim, Sungsoon; Liu, Chengze; Mei, Simona; Miller, Bryan; Munoz, Roberto; Mihos, J. Christopher; Paudel, Sanjaya; Powalka, Mathieu; Toloba, Elisa
    Using deep, high-resolution optical imaging from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey, we study the properties of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) in a sample of nearly 400 quiescent galaxies in the core of Virgo with stellar masses 10(5) less than or similar to M-*/M-circle dot less than or similar to 10(12). The nucleation fraction reaches a peak value f(n) approximate to 90% for M-* approximate to 10(9) M-circle dot galaxies and declines for both higher and lower masses, but nuclei populate galaxies as small as M-* approximate to 5 x 10(5) M-circle dot. Comparison with literature data for nearby groups and clusters shows that at the low-mass end nucleation is more frequent in denser environments. The NSC mass function peaks at M-NSC approximate to 7 x 10(5) M-circle dot, a factor 3-4 times larger than the turnover mass for globular clusters (GCs). We find a nonlinear relation between the stellar masses of NSCs and those of their host galaxies, with a mean nucleus-to-galaxy mass ratio that drops to M-NSC/M-* approximate to 3.6 x 10(-3) for M-* approximate to 5 x 10(9) M-circle dot galaxies. Nuclei in both more and less massive galaxies are much more prominent: M-NSC proportional to M-*(0.46) at the low-mass end, where nuclei are nearly 50% as massive as their hosts. We measure an intrinsic scatter in NSC masses at a fixed galaxy stellar mass of 0.4 dex, which we interpret as evidence that the process of NSC growth is significantly stochastic. At low galaxy masses we find a close connection between NSCs and GC systems, including very similar occupation distributions and comparable total masses. We discuss these results in the context of current dissipative and dissipationless models of NSC formation.