Too shy to spin? Cosmic wallflowers as proto-globular clusters

We investigate the rotational properties of star-forming clusters at z about 7.6 in the high-resolution simulation MassiveBlackPS, focusing on two formation channels: clusters forming in galactic discs via gravitational instability and isolated circumgalactic systems, referred to as cosmic wallflowers, born out of cosmic filaments. Using stellar kinematics, we compare their rotational velocities, v rot, and rotational support, v/sigma, to study whether formation environment leaves a clear dynamical imprint. We find a clear separation, wherein cosmic wallflowers systematically have lower rotational velocities and span a wide range in v/sigma, whereas the identified disc clusters are strongly rotation-dominated and extend to higher v rot. When combined with stellar surface densities, a subset of the low- v rot cosmic wallflowers lie surprisingly close to the observed globular cluster population in the Milky Way, whereas disc clusters remain offset. Within the cosmic wallflower population, we identify two regimes: lower-density, weakly rotating systems that overlap with these globular cluster properties, and denser, more rotationally supported systems that likely follow a different evolutionary pathway, possibly linking them to the origin of massive black hole seeds at high redshift. We further find that the gas content correlates with this behaviour, with gas-rich cosmic wallflowers preferentially occupying this low-rotation regime. This all suggests that environment and baryonic content together play a key role in setting the initial dynamical state and possible fate of clusters. In particular, weakly rotating, gas-rich cosmic wallflowers emerge as natural proto-globular cluster candidates, potentially evolving towards present-day systems through angular momentum loss and dynamical heating.