A new method to detect globular clusters with the S-PLUS survey

BUZZO, MARIA LUISA; CORTESI, ARIANNA; FORBES, DUNCAN A; BRODIE, JEAN P; COUCH, WARRICK J; EDUARDO BARBOSA, CARLOS; DE BRITO SILVA, DANIELLE; COELHO, PAULA; CHIES-SANTOS, ANA L; ESCUDERO, CARLOS; SESTO, LEANDRO; MENENDEZ-DELMESTRE, KARÍN; GONÇALVES, THIAGO S; BOM, CLECIO R; ALVAREZ-CANDAL, ALVARO; SMITH CASTELLI, ANALÍA V; SCHOENELL, WILLIAM; KANAAN, ANTONIO; RIBEIRO, TIAGO; MENDES DE OLIVEIRA, CLAUDIA

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2022 vol. 510 p. 1383 - 1392

0035-8711

In this paper, we describe a new method to select globular cluster (GC) candidates, including galaxy subtraction with unsharp masking, template fitting techniques, and the inclusion of Gaia´s proper motions. We report the use of the 12-band photometric system used by S-PLUS to determine radial velocities and stellar populations of GCs around nearby galaxies. Specifically, we assess the effectiveness of identifying GCs around nearby and massive galaxies (D < 20 Mpc and σ > 200 km s-1) in a multiband survey such as S-PLUS by using spectroscopically confirmed GCs and literature GC candidate lists around the bright central galaxy in the Fornax cluster, NGC 1399 (D = 19 Mpc), and the isolated lenticular galaxy NGC 3115 (D = 9.4 Mpc). Despite the shallow survey depth, which limits this work to r < 21.3 mag, we measure reliable photometry and perform robust SED fitting for a sample of 115 GCs around NGC 1399 and 42 GCs around NGC 3115, recovering radial velocities, ages, and metallicities for the GC populations.