In-situ versus accreted Milky Way globular clusters: a new classification method and implications for cluster formation

Abstract

We present a new scheme for the classification of the in-situ and accreted globular clusters (GCs). The scheme uses total energy E and z-component of the orbital angular momentum and is calibrated using the [Al/Fe] abundance ratio. We demonstrate that this classification results in two GC populations with distinct spatial, kinematic, and chemical abundance distributions. The in-situ GCs are distributed within the central 10 kpc of the Galaxy in a flattened configuration aligned with the Milky Way (MW) disc, while the accreted GCs have a wide distribution of distances and a spatial distribution close to spherical. In-situ and accreted GCs have different [Fe/H] distributions with the well-known bimodality present only in the metallicity distribution of the in-situ GCs. Furthermore, the accreted and in-situ GCs are well separated in the plane of [Al/Fe] − [Mg/Fe] abundance ratios and follow distinct sequences in the age–[Fe/H] plane. The in-situ GCs in our classification show a clear disc spin-up signature – the increase of median Vφ at metallicities −1.3