Bimodal Galaxies and Bimodality in Globular Cluster Systems

Various galaxy properties are not continuous over a large range in mass but rather reveal a remarkable transition or “bimodality” at a stellar mass of M,. These properties include colors, stellar populations, X-ray 10 3 # 10 emission, and mass-to-light ratios. This behavior has been interpreted as the transition from hot to cold flows by Dekel & Birnboim. Here we explore whether globular cluster (GC) systems also reveal a bimodal nature with regard to this critical mass scale. Globular clusters probe star formation at early epochs in the universe and survive subsequent galaxy mergers and accretions. We use new data from the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey (Peng and coworkers), which provides a homogeneous sample of the GC systems around 100 Virgo early-type galaxies covering a range of 500 in galaxy mass. Their classification of the GC color distributions is taken to examine a key quantity—the number of GCs per unit galaxy luminosity. Below the critical mass, this quantity (called the GC specific frequency) increases dramatically in its mean value and spread. This increase may be due to regulated star formation in low-mass galaxies, which in turn is due to mass loss via winds and the transition from hot to cold gas accretion flows. We also note that above the critical mass, galaxies possess two GC subpopulations (with blue and red mean colors), but below this mass, galaxies reveal an increasing proportion of single (blue) GC systems. Subject headings: galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD — galaxies: formation — globular clusters: general Online material: color figure