Radial velocities in two globular clusters

In the absence of disturbing effects, such as tidal heating, the velocity dispersion of globular clusters is expected to vanish at large radii. If this is not observed, and in particular if, as observed in elliptical galaxies, the dispersion is found to be constant at large radii below a certain threshold acceleration, this might indicate a breakdown of Newtonian dynamics.

To minimize the effects of tidal heating that can increase the velocity dispersion at large radii, we study the velocity dispersion profile of two distant globular clusters, NGC 1851 and NGC 1904. The velocity dispersion profile is derived from accurate radial velocity measurements, obtained at the ESO 8m VLT telescope with the FLAMES multi-object spectrograph. Reliable data for 184 and 146 bona fide cluster star members were obtained for NGC 1851 and NGC 1904, respectively.