The influence of globular cluster evolution on the specific frequency in dwarf galaxies

Abstract

Dwarf galaxies are known to exhibit an unusual richness in numbers of globular clusters (GCs), property quantified by the specific frequency (SN), which is high for dwarf and giant elliptical galaxies, but with a minimum for intermediate-mass galaxies. In this work we study the role that GC evolution has in setting this trend, for which we use N-body simulations to evolve GCs in dwarf galaxies and quantify their disruption efficiency. We selected five individual dwarf galaxies from a high-resolution cosmological simulation, which includes GC formation and follow-up of their paths inside the host galaxy. Then, the tidal history of each GC is coupled to NBODY6++GPU to produce N-body models that account for both, the interaction of GCs with their galactic environment and their internal dynamics. This results in a GC mass-loss parametrization to estimate dissolution times and mass-loss rates after a Hubble time. GC evolution is sensitive to the particular orbital histories within each galaxy, but the overall result is that the amount of mass that GC systems lose scales with the mass (and density) of the host galaxy, i.e. the GC mass-loss efficiency is lowest in low-mass dwarfs. After a 12 Gyr evolution all simulated GC systems retain an important fraction of their initial mass (up to 25 per cent), in agreement with the high GC to field star ratios observed in some dwarfs, and supports the scenario in which GC disruption mechanisms play an important role in shaping the GC specific frequency in dwarf galaxies.