Astro lunch 05.06.2018

Paolo Bianchini (McMaster University/ObAS)

A three-dimensional view of the internal rotation of globular clusters

Globular clusters (GCs) are old stellar systems for long considered spherical and non-rotating. However, in recent years, an increasing number of line-of-sight kinematic studies have shown evidence of significant amount of internal angular momentum. In this talk, I will present my effort in modelling and analyzing signatures of rotation in three-dimension, including line-of-sight velocities and proper motions. In particular, I will discuss my ongoing work with Gaia DR2 dataset and outline the implications of a significant amount of angular momentum for the formation mechanism of proto-GCs and their dynamical evolution.