The Globular Cluster System of NGC 3115

Abstract

The evolution of galaxies through cosmic time remains a key question in Extra- galactic Astronomy. Globular Clusters (GCs) are believed to be good tracers of this evolution as they form during large star formation events. In this thesis we use spectroscopic data of GCs, taken using the FORS2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope, to create a catalogue of kinematics and metallicities for GCs in the S0 galaxy of NGC 3115. In order to do this the data was reduced using the ESO RE- FLEX program, creating 1D spectra for each of the GC targets. These were then fed into a modified version of the full spectrum fitting method ’pPXF’ to extract the kinematics, metallicities and ages of each target. The dataset created via this method was then compared to, and combined with, supplementary data from other surveys to create a more complete catalogue of GCs in NGC 3115. From this cata- logue there is evidence that the bimodal colour distribution is caused by a underlying bimodal metallicity distribution. Implying that at least two major star formation events have occurred in the history of NGC 3115.