Simulating the Spatial Distribution and Kinematics of Globular Clusters within Galaxy Clusters in Illustris

Abstract

We study the assembly of globular clusters (GCs) in 9 galaxy clusters using the cosmological simulation Illustris. GCs are tagged to individual galaxies at their infall time. The tidal removal of GCs from their galaxies and the distribution of the GCs within the cluster is later followed self-consistently by the simulation. The method relies on the simple assumption of a single power-law relation between halo mass (M_vir) and mass in GCs (M_GC) as found in observations. We find that the GCs specific frequency $S_N$ as a function of V-band magnitude naturally reproduces the observed "U"-shape, due to the combination of a power law M_GC-M_vir relation and the non-linear M_*-M_vir relation from the simulation. Additional scatter in the $S_N$ values are traced back to galaxies with early infall times due to the evolution in the M_*-M_vir relation with redshift. GCs that have been tidally removed from their galaxies form today the intra-cluster component from which about ~60% were brought in by galaxies that orbit today within the cluster potential. The remaining "orphan" GCs are contributed by satellite galaxies with a wide range of stellar masses that are fully tidally disrupted at z=0. This intra-cluster component is a good dynamical tracer of the dark matter potential. As a consequence of the accreted nature of most intra-cluster GCs, their orbits are fairly radial with a predicted orbital anisotropy \beta >= 0.5. However, local tangential motions may appear as a consequence of localized substructure, providing a possible interpretation to the \beta<0 values suggested in observations of M87.