Globular Clusters at the Centre of the Fornax Cluster: Tracing Interactions Between Galaxies

Abstract

We present the combined results of two investigations: a large-scale study of the globular cluster system (GCS) around NGC 1399, the central galaxy of the Fornax cluster, and a study of the GCSs around NGC 1374, NGC 1379 and NGC 1387, three low-luminosity early-type galaxies located close to the centre of the same cluster. In both cases, the data consist of images from the wide-field MOSAIC Imager of the CTIO 4-m telescope, obtained with Washington C and Kron-Cousins R filters, which provide good metallicity resolution. The colour distributions and radial projected densities of the GCSs are analyzed. We focus on the properties of the GCSs that trace possible interaction processes between the galaxies, such as tidal stripping of globular clusters. For the blue globular clusters, we find tails between NGC 1399 and neighbouring galaxies in the azimuthal projected distribution, and the three low-luminosity galaxies show low specific frequencies and a low proportion of blue GCs.