The Cosmic Origins of Globular Clusters: Linking Reionization-era Star Clusters to the Near Field
| Program ID | 19077 |
|---|---|
| Science Category | Galaxies |
| Program Type | Analysis |
| Category | Small |
| Principal Investigator | Jenna Samuel |
| PI Institution | University of Texas, Austin |
| Co-Investigators |
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| Abstract | We propose to establish a unified theoretical framework linking the formation of star clusters in the early Universe to the globular cluster (GC) systems, stellar halos, and tidal debris observed in nearby galaxies today. Recent simulations such as BonFIRE and CampFIRE demonstrate that early galaxies are dominated by clustered star formation, producing thousands of star clusters in the first billion years, but their connection to present-day GC populations remains poorly understood. We will extend the CampFIRE simulation to z=0 with state-of-the-art physics (resolved ISM+MHD+dust+BH) and 800 solar mass particle resolution, enabling us to track the dynamical evolution, survival, and disruption of star clusters in a cosmological context. Our simulation will follow ~1,000 galaxies spanning dwarf to Milky Way stellar masses, matching the range probed by the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey (HLWAS). We will predict the number of surviving GCs as a function of host galaxy mass, the contribution of disrupted clusters to stellar halos and tidal streams, and the chemical properties of cluster-born stars. By forward-modeling these observables and publicly releasing synthetic catalogs, our work will provide the critical theoretical link between JWST observations of clustered star formation at high redshift and Roman’s wide-field census of nearby galaxies, enabling transformative constraints on the cosmic origins of globular clusters and the assembly of local galaxies. |