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One of the conundrums in extragalactic astronomy is the discrepancy inobserved metallicity distribution functions (MDFs) between the two primestellar components of early-type galaxies-globular clusters (GCs) and halofield stars. This is generally taken as evidence of highly decoupledevolutionary histories between GC systems and their parent galaxies. Here weshow, however, that new developments in linking the observed GC colors to theirintrinsic metallicities suggest nonlinear color-to-metallicity conversions,which translate observed color distributions into strongly-peaked, unimodalMDFs with broad metal-poor tails. Remarkably, the inferred GC MDFs are similarto the MDFs of resolved field stars in nearby elliptical galaxies and thoseproduced by chemical evolution models of galaxies. The GC MDF shape,characterized by a sharp peak with a metal-poor tail, indicates a virtuallycontinuous chemical enrichment with a relatively short timescale. Thecharacteristic shape emerges across three orders of magnitude in the hostgalaxy mass, suggesting a universal process of chemical enrichment amongvarious GC systems. Given that GCs are bluer than field stars within the samegalaxy, it is plausible that the chemical enrichment processes of GCs ceasedsomewhat earlier than that of field stellar population, and if so, GCspreferentially trace the major, vigorous mode of star formation events ingalactic formation. We further suggest a possible systematic age differenceamong GC systems, in that the GC systems in more luminous galaxies are older.This is consistent with the downsizing paradigm of galaxies and supportsadditionally the similar nature shared by GCs and field stars. Our findingssuggest that GC systems and their parent galaxies have shared a more commonorigin than previously thought, and hence greatly simplify theories of galaxyformation.

astrophysical journal/the astrophysical journal

Nonlinear Color-Metallicity Relations of Globular Clusters. III. On the  Discrepancy in Metallicity between Globular Cluster Systems and their Parent  Elliptical Galaxies