Disentangling the formation mechanisms of nuclear star clusters
  Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are massive star clusters found ubiquitously in
the centres of galaxies, from the dwarf regime to massive ellipticals and
spirals. The fraction of nucleated galaxies is as high as $>$ 90 % at
$M_{\text{gal}} \sim 10^9 M_\odot$. However, how NSC formation mechanisms work
in different regimes and what determines galaxy nucleation is still unclear.
The dissipationless accretion of infalling globular clusters (GCs) and the in
situ formation of stars directly at the galactic centre likely operate to grow
NSCs in most galaxies; however, their efficiency has been difficult to assess
observationally. Here, we provide, for the first time, a quantitative
determination of the relative strength of these processes in the build-up of
individual NSCs. Using a semi-analytical model of NSC formation based on the
orbital evolution of inspiraling GCs, together with observed NSC and GC system
properties, we derived the mass fraction of in situ born stars $f_\text{in,
NSC}$ for 119 galaxies with masses from $3 \times 10^{7}$ to $3 \times 10^{11}
M_\odot$, in the Local Volume, the Fornax, and Virgo galaxy clusters. Our
analysis reveals that the NSC mass, as well as the ratio of NSC to the total GC
system mass, are strong indicators of the dominant NSC formation channel, and
not the total galaxy stellar mass as previously suggested. More massive NSCs
formed predominantly via the in situ formation of stars ($f_\text{in, NSC} \sim
0.9$), while the lower-mass NSCs are expected to have formed predominantly
through the merger of GCs ($f_\text{in, NSC} \sim 0.2$). The results of this
simple model are in agreement with recent independent estimates of the dominant
NSC formation channel from recent stellar population analysis.
