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Detailed Properties of Populous Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2006

A. J. Grocholski ,
A. Sarajedini ,
A. A. Cole ,
D. Geisler ,
K. A. G. Olsen ,
G. P. Tiede ,
V. V. Smith  and
C. L. Mancone
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
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Abstract

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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.

Keywords

galaxies: star clustersMagellanic Cloudsstars: distancesstars: abundances
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S241: Stellar Populations as Building Blocks of Galaxies , December 2006 , pp. 227 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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