Collaborative Research: The Virgo Cluster as a Testbed for the Study of Galaxy Formation and Evolution

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Galaxies and clusters of galaxies are visible because of the light emitted by stars and hot gas. However, the mass of stars and gas in these structures is greatly exceeded by the mass of dark matter. Dark matter cannot be observed directly, but the gravitational effects of dark matter can be observed in the distribution and motion of stars, gas, and stellar clusters such as globular clusters (GCs). A team from the University of the Pacific and the University of California Santa Cruz will use spectroscopic observations of GCs to probe the dark matter content of the nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies with the goal of understanding the assembly history of massive galaxy clusters. The team will continue working with high school students through the Science Internship Program (SIP) at UC Santa Cruz. In addition, they will involve undergraduates from both the University of the Pacific and the University of California Santa Cruz in research relating to this project. Finally, they will participate in traditional outreach events such as public talks and workshops, with special emphasis on reaching Hispanic and Latino communities.The project will use GCs to study the assembly of structures in the Virgo cluster. This takes advantage of the large numbers of GCs, their relatively high surface brightness, and their extended radial distribution. The main scientific goals include: (i) determining the dark matter content of dwarf early-type and ultra-diffuse galaxies; (ii) testing the dynamical friction scenario for the formation of galaxy nuclei from mergers of GCs; and (iii) understanding the effects of the cluster environment through analysis of clustering, substructures, and asymmetries found in the GC population, and the study of cluster-centric radial trends of the stellar populations of Virgo dwarf ellipticals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.