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May 17 (4:00PM) in the 2nd Floor Conference Room in Dearborn Speaker: Stephen Zepf (Michigan State University) “From Galaxy Formation to X-ray Binaries with Globular Clusters” The talk will present recent results in the study of extragalactic globular cluster systems that touch on a number of areas of interest. First, I will show new evidence that globular cluster systems have bimodal metallicity distributions and discuss the implications of these results for galaxy formation models. I will then discuss the globular cluster - low-mass X-ray binary connection, particularly focusing on the key cluster parameters that effect whether a globular cluster hosts a bright LMXB. Metallicity remains the most interesting of these cluster parameters, and new observations aimed at understanding the physical reason for the metallicty effect will be discussed. I will also talk about our recent discovery of the first black-hole X-ray binary in a globular cluster, and some interesting follow-up work on this object. |