The giant early-type merger remnant galaxy NGC 1316 is an ideal probe for studying the long-term effects of a major merger on its globular cluster ( GC ) system , given its spectroscopically derived merger age of \sim 3 Gyr which we reported in a recent paper .
Here we report several pieces of photometric evidence showing that the second-generation GCs in NGC 1316 are at an evolutionary phase in between that of luminous GCs found in younger merger remnants such as ( e.g . )
NGC 7252 and that of ‘ red ’ GCs found in ‘ normal , old ’ ellipticals .
The observation that massive , second-generation GCs formed during major mergers can survive for at least 3 Gyr provides strong evidence that these clusters can have ‘ normal ’ mass functions including low-mass stars , and hence that they can survive to reach ‘ old age ’ similar to those of ‘ normal ’ ellipticals .