  JHK images obtained with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Adaptive
Optics Bonnette (AOB) are used to investigate the near-infrared photometric
properties of red giant branch (RGB) and horizontal branch (HB) stars in eight
metal-poor globular clusters with R_GC < 2 kpc. The slope of the RGB on the (K,
J-K) CMDs confirms the metal-poor nature of these clusters, four of which
appear to have metallicities comparable to M92. The luminosity functions of RGB
stars in inner spheroid and outer halo clusters have similar slopes, although
there is a tendency for core-collapsed clusters to have slightly flatter
luminosity functions than non-collapsed clusters. The distribution of red HB
stars on the (K, J-K) CMDs of inner spheroid clusters with [Fe/H] ~ -1.5 is
very different from that of clusters with [Fe/H] ~ -2.2, suggesting that
metallicity is the main parameter defining HB content among these objects. The
RGB-bump is detected in four of the inner spheroid clusters, and this feature
is used to compute distances to these objects. Finally, the specific frequency
of globular clusters in the inner Galaxy is discussed in the context of the
early evolution of the bulge. If the globular cluster formation efficiency for
the inner Galaxy is similar to that measured in other spheroidal systems, then
the main body of the bulge could have formed from gas that was chemically
enriched in situ.

Astrophysics