On the Origin of Early-type Galactic Nuclei

The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey by Côté and collaborators shows the presence of compact nuclei at the photocenters of many early-type galaxies. It is argued that they are the low mass counterparts of nuclei hosting super-massive black holes detected in bright galaxies. If this view is correct, then one should think in terms of central massive objects, either super-massive black holes or compact stellar clusters that accompany the formation of almost all early-type galaxies. In this observational frame, the hypothesis that galactic nuclei may be the remains of globular clusters driven inward to the galactic center by dynamical friction and there merged, finds an exciting possible confirmation. In this short paper we report on our recent results on globular cluster mergers obtained by means of detailed N-body simulations.