The next Colloquium of the Astronomical Observatory will be held on Wednesday, May 14, at 1 PM in the Library.
Speaker: Michal Bilek, Astronomical Observatory
Topic: Formation of Fornax dwarf spheroidal and the survival of its globular clusters in MOND
Resume: The presence of globular clusters (GCs) in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal is an important test of the theories aiming to address the missing mass problem. The problem is that in most of them, the GCs are expected to sink in the center of Fornax due to dynamical friction much faster than the observed stellar ages of the GCs. I will present our assessment of the problem in the framework of MOND modified gravity using N-body simulations. Following older MOND studies of the Local Group, we assumed that Fornax is a tidal dwarf galaxy formed in a Milky Way - Andromeda flyby 7 Gyr ago. We newly propose that the GCs of Fornax started their lives as massive star clusters in the young Milky Way. Our results are the following:
The talk will be recorded and posted on the Observatory's Youtube channel.