Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:22:54.604Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Detailed Properties of Populous Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2006

A. J. Grocholski
Affiliation:
Deptartment of Astronomy, University of Florida, P.O. Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611; email: aaron@astro.ufl.edu, ata@astro.ufl.edu, cmancone@astro.ufl.edu
A. Sarajedini
Affiliation:
Deptartment of Astronomy, University of Florida, P.O. Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611; email: aaron@astro.ufl.edu, ata@astro.ufl.edu, cmancone@astro.ufl.edu
A. A. Cole
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church St., S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455; email: cole@astro.umn.edu
D. Geisler
Affiliation:
Departamento de Fisica, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile; email: dgeisler@astro-udec.cl
K. A. G. Olsen
Affiliation:
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile; email: kolsen@noao.edu
G. P. Tiede
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bowling Green State Univeristy, Bowling Green, OH, 43403; email: gptiede@bgnet.bgsu.edu
V. V. Smith
Affiliation:
Gemini Project, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85719; email: vsmith@noao.edu
C. L. Mancone
Affiliation:
Deptartment of Astronomy, University of Florida, P.O. Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611; email: aaron@astro.ufl.edu, ata@astro.ufl.edu, cmancone@astro.ufl.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We present results from a series of projects aimed at better understanding the ages, velocities, metallicities, and distances of populous clusters in the LMC. Using FORS2 on the VLT, we obtained near-infrared spectra for more than 200 stars in 28 LMC clusters, which span a large range of ages and metallicities. The strong absorption lines of the Ca II triplet are used to calculate cluster velocities and abundances. We determine cluster ages through main sequence fitting of theoretical isochrones to deep optical photometry using a combination of published photometry, VLT FORS2 images and archival HST WFPC2 images. As shown by Grocholski & Sarajedini, a cluster's age and [Fe/H] can be used to predict the K-band luminosity of core helium burning red clump (RC) stars in that cluster. Using ISPI on the CTIO 4m telescope, we imaged 17 LMC clusters in the J– and K–bands, with the resulting photometry reaching ∼0.5 mag below the RC. We combine the measured apparent RC magnitudes with the predicted absolute values to determine absolute distances to each of these clusters and thereby probe the structure of the LMC as traced by its intermediate-age clusters.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

Alves, D.R. & Nelson, C.A. 2000, ApJ, 542, 789CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freedman, W.L. et al. , 2001, ApJ, 553, 47CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grocholski, A.J. & Sarajedini, A. 2002, AJ, 123, 1603 (GS02)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grocholski, A.J., Cole, A.A., Sarajedini, A., Geisler, D., & Smith, V.V. 2006, AJ, 132, 1630CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grocholski, A.J., Sarajedini, A., Olsen, K.A.G., Tiede, G.P., & Mancone, C.L. 2007, AJ, subm.Google Scholar
Kerber, L.O., Santiago, B.X., & Brocato, E. 2007, A&A, 462, 139Google Scholar
Macri, L.M., Stanek, K.Z., Bersier, D., Greenhill, L., & Reid, M. 2006, ApJ, 652, 1133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, K.A.G. & Salyk, C. 2002, AJ, 124, 2045CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olszewski, E.W., Schommer, R.A., Suntzeff, N.B., & Harris, H.C. 1991, AJ, 101, 515 (OSSH)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schommer, R.A., Olszewski, E.W., Suntzeff, N.B., & Harris, H.C. 1992, AJ, 103, 447CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Marel, R.P. & Cioni, M.-R.L. 2001, AJ, 122, 1807CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A.R. 1993, AJ, 105, 527CrossRefGoogle Scholar