Deciphering Diverse Color Distribution Functions of Globular Cluster Systems

The color distribution functions (CDFs) of globular clusters (GCs) in individual early-type galaxies show great diversity in their morphology. Based on the conventional "linear" relationship between colors and metallicities of GCs, the inferred GC metallicity distribution functions and thus their formation histories should be as diverse as they appear. In contrast, an alternative scenario rooted in the "nonlinear" nature of the color-to-metallicity transformation finds the various CDFs pointing systematically to a simple picture, i.e., such a high degree of variety stems predominately from only one parameter, the mean metallicity of GCs. The simulated CDFs of GCs aimed to reproduce 67 massive early-type galaxies from the ACS Virgo & Fornax Cluster Survey show that over 70% of the CDFs concur fully with the nonlinearity scenario. We discuss our new findings in terms of early-type galaxy formation in the cluster environment.