M87 globular cluster candidates catalog

Using archival Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey images in the ugriz bands, observed with Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/MegaPrime, we perform a careful subtraction of the galaxy's halo light in order to detect objects at small galactocentric radii as well as in the wider field, and find 17620 GC candidates over a radius range from 1.3 to 445kpc with g<24mag.

By inferring their colour, radial and magnitude distributions in a Bayesian way, we find that they are well described as a mixture of two GC populations and two distinct contaminant populations, but confirm earlier findings of radius-dependent colour gradients in both GC populations. This is consistent with a picture in which the more enriched GCs reside deeper in the galaxy's potential well, indicating a role for dissipative collapse in the formation of both the red and the blue GCs.