2008ApJ...683..172M

It has been found that globular clusters (GCs) in dwarf galaxies and those in the Milky Way (MW) outer halo mostly have the same parent distributions, while GCs in the MW disk and inner halo have a different origin from those in dwarf galaxies. Thus, these dwarf galaxies did not play a crucial role in the formation of the Galactic disk or inner halo. In order to investigate this phenomenon in a more objective manner, a statistical comparison of the GCs of our Galaxy and those of neighboring dwarf galaxies has been carried out by a multivariate nonparametric method. For the various parameters of GCs in the MW and in dwarf galaxies, the multivariate Gaussian assumption fails, so a nonparametric method of comparison (instead of multivariate analysis of variance [MANOVA]) has been chosen. The test is performed on GCs of the MW disk, inner halo, and outer halo separately, with GCs from neighboring dwarf galaxies Canis Major, Fornax, and Sculptor, and the LMC dwarf irregular galaxy. The test is also performed for GCs from dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the neighborhood of M31: M33, NGC 147, NGC 185, and NGC 205.