Keele University
Internal structures and systemic mass functions of globular star clusters We have recently completed programs to measure homogeneously the detailed, internal structures of over 300 old globular clusters (GCs) in several galaxies including the Milky Way. This has improved the definition of structural correlations and a so-called "fundamental plane" for GCs, which can be compared directly to analogous relations for elliptical galaxies and other stellar systems. I will emphasise the role that cluster evaporation driven by two-body relaxation has played in shaping the GC fundamental plane, which suggests that this process should also have had a measurable long-term effect on the GC mass function (number of globulars per unit mass) in galaxies. I will develop a simple model for the evaporation-dominated evolution of the GC mass function and show observational evidence that supports it.