The dearth of nuclear star clusters in bright galaxies

We investigate the interaction of a massive globular cluster (GC) with a super massive black hole (SMBH), located at the centre of its host galaxy, by means of direct N-body simulations. The results show that tidal distortions induced by the stellar background and the SMBH act on a time shorter than that of dynamical friction decay for a 10(6) M-circle dot GC whenever the SMBH mass exceeds similar to 10(8) M-circle dot. This implies an almost complete dissolution of the infalling GC before it reaches the inner region (less than or similar to 5 pc) of the parent galaxy. The generalization of this result to a larger sample of infalling GCs shows that such destructive process may prevent the formation and growth of a bright galactic nucleus. Another interesting, serendipitous, result we obtained is that the close interaction between the SMBH and the GC produces a 'wave' of stars that escape from the cluster and, in a fraction, even from the whole galaxy.