We present a high-resolution simulation of globular cluster formation in a galaxy merger. For the first time in such a simulation, individual star clusters are directly identified and followed on their orbits. We quantitatively compare star formation in the merger to that in the unperturbed galaxies. The merging galaxies show a strong starburst, in sharp contrast to their isolated progenitors. Most star clusters form in the tidal tails. With a mass range of 5\×10⁵--5\× 10⁶ M\, they are identified as globular clusters. The merger remnant is an elliptical galaxy. Clusters with different mass or age have different radial distributions in the galaxy. The cluster mass spectrum appears to be roughly log-normal. Our results show that the high specific frequency and bimodal distribution of metallicity observed in elliptical galaxies are natural products of gas-rich mergers, supporting a merger origin for the ellipticals and their globular cluster systems.
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Li et al. (2004) studied this question.
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