scholarly journals Methods to Identify Star Clusters in The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-73
Author(s):  
Prasantha K Nayak ◽  
Annapurni Subramaniam

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) hosts a few thousand star clusters which are ideal tools to study stellar evolution, star formation history, cluster formation and dissolution processes in the galaxy. Although many surveys (like IRSF, OGLE II etc) of the LMC have been carried out, a large fraction of clusters, mainly poor ones are yet to be identified. Also, the parameters of already identified clusters are not well studied. In this context, we have  tried to explore that among the available and upcoming surveys which survey (optical/NIR) can be used to efficiently detect and study the clusters in the LMC. We have found that the available OGLE-III optical data is ideal for this purpose, but only for young clusters, whereas Deeper optical data from DECAM survey, OGLE-IV and skymapper are ideal to study poor and old clusters. We have also found that one can combine  the ongoing VISTA data with upcoming optical data (OGLE IV) and estimate the cluster parameters more accurately.

1991 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 161-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. van den Bergh

Star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) differ from those in the Galaxy in a number of respects: (1) the Clouds contain a class of populous open clusters that has no Galactic counterpart; (2) Cloud clusters have systematically larger radii rh than those in the Galaxy; (3) clusters of all ages in the Clouds are, on average, more flattened than those in the Galaxy. In the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) there appear to have been two distinct epochs of cluster formation. LMC globulars have ages of 12-15 Gyr, whereas most populous open clusters have ages <5 Gyr. No such dichotomy is observed for clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) The fact that the SMC exhibits no enhanced cluster formation at times of bursts of cluster formation in the LMC, militates against encounters between the Clouds as a cause for enhanced rates of star and cluster formation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 430 (4) ◽  
pp. 2774-2788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Rubele ◽  
Léo Girardi ◽  
Vera Kozhurina-Platais ◽  
Leandro Kerber ◽  
Paul Goudfrooij ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S344) ◽  
pp. 118-121
Author(s):  
Rhorom Priyatikanto ◽  
Mochamad Ikbal Arifyanto ◽  
Rendy Darma ◽  
Aprilia ◽  
Muhamad Irfan Hakim

AbstractGlobal history of star or cluster formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) has been the center of interest in several studies as it is thought to be influenced by tidal interaction with the Small Magellanic Cloud and even the Milky Way. This study focus on the formation history of the LMC in relation with the context of binary star clusters population, the apparent binary fraction (e.g., percentage of cluster pairs) in different epoch were calculated and analyzed. From the established distributions, it can be deduced that the binary clusters tend to be young (∽ 100 Myr) while their locations coincide with the locations of star forming complexes. There is an indication that the binary fraction increases as the rise of star formation rate in the last millions years. In the LMC, the increase of binary fraction at age ∽ 100 Myr can be associated to the last episode of close encounter with the Small Magellanic Cloud at ∽ 150 Myr ago. This observational evidence supports the theory of binary cluster formation through the fission of molecular cloud where the encounter between galaxies enhanced the clouds velocity dispersion which in turn increased the probability of cloud-cloud collisions that produce binary clusters.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S256) ◽  
pp. 281-286
Author(s):  
Carme Gallart ◽  
Ingrid Meschin ◽  
Antonio Aparicio ◽  
Peter B. Stetson ◽  
Sebastián L. Hidalgo

AbstractBased on the quantitative analysis of a set of wide-field color—magnitude diagrams reaching the old main sequence-turnoffs, we present new LMC star-formation histories, and their variation with galactocentric distance. Some coherent features are found, together with systematic variations of the star-formation history among the three fields analyzed. We find two main episodes of star formation in all three fields, from 1 to 4 and 7 to 13 Gyr ago, with relatively low star formation around ≃ 4–7 Gyr ago. The youngest age in each field gradually increases with galactocentric radius; in the innermost field, LMC 0514–6503, an additional star formation event younger than 1 Gyr is detected, with star formation declining, however, in the last ≃ 200 Myr. The population is found to be older on average toward the outer part of the galaxy, although star formation in all fields seems to have started around 13 Gyr ago.


1997 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 292 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. W. Stappers ◽  
J. R. Mould ◽  
K. M. Sebo ◽  
J. A. Holtzman ◽  
J. S., III Gallagher ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 343-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Smecker-Hane ◽  
J. S. Gallagher ◽  
Andrew Cole ◽  
P. B. Stetson ◽  
E. Tolstoy

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is unique among galaxies in the Local Group in that it is the most massive non-spiral, is relatively gas-rich, and is actively forming stars. Determining its star-formation rate (SFR) as a function of time will be a cornerstone in our understanding of galaxy evolution. The best method of deriving a galaxy's past SFR is to compare the densities of stars in a color-magnitude diagram (CMD), a Hess diagram, with model Hess diagrams. The LMC has a complex stellar population with ages ranging from 0 to ~ 14 Gyr and metallicities from −2 ≲ [Fe/H] ≲ −0.4, and deriving its SFR and simultaneously constraining model input parameters (distance, age-metallicity relation, reddening, and stellar models) requires well-populated CMDs that span the magnitude range 15 ≤ V ≤ 24. Although existing CMDs of field stars in the LMC show tantalizing evidence for a significant burst of star formation that occurred ~ 3 Gyr ago (for examples, see Westerlund et al. 1995; Vallenari et al. 1996; Elson, et al. 1997; Gallagher et al. 1999, and references therein), estimates of the enhancement in the SFR vary from factors of 3 to 50. This uncertainty is caused by the relatively large photometric errors that plague crowded ground-based images, and the small number statistics that plague CMDs created from single Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S344) ◽  
pp. 53-56
Author(s):  
Maria-Rosa L. Cioni ◽  
Florian Niederhofer ◽  
Stefano Rubele ◽  
Ning-Chen Sun

AbstractVISTA observed the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), as part of the VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC), for six years (2010–2016). The acquired multi-epoch YJKs images have allowed us to probe the stellar populations to an exceptional level of detail across an unprecedented wide area in the near-infrared. This contribution highlights the most recent VMC results obtained on the SMC focusing, in particular, on the clustering of young stellar populations, on the proper motion of stars in the main body of the galaxy and on the spatial distribution of the star formation history.


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