We present spatially resolved molecular filaments and clumps in the high-mass star-forming regions N159E-Papillon, W-South, and W-North in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Our ALMA observations in CO isotopes and millimeter continuum revealed remarkable hub-filament systems with a typical width of 0.1 pc. The most massive clump in the observed regions, N159W-North MMS-2, shows an especially massive/dense nature whose total H2 mass and peak column density are ∼104 M⊙ and ∼1024 cm−2, respectively, and harbors massive (∼100 M⊙) starless core candidates. The hub-filamentary clouds in the three regions share a common orientation and have 10–30 pc scale head-tail structures with active star formation at the tips. Their striking similarity proposes a “teardrops-inflow” model, i.e., substructured conversing H i flow, that explains the synchronized, extreme star formation across ∼50 pc, including one of the most massive protocluster clumps in the Local Group.

We present results of a detailed model atmosphere abundance analysis for a variety of elements, including Fe, Ca, Si, Ti, Sc, Ni, Cr and Ba for a number of giants in the surrounding field of the LMC cluster H11, obtained from high resolution FLAMES@VLT spectra.

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a very important question in modern astrophysics. Globular clusters (GCs) are good samples for studying the IMF, but the Galactic GCs can provide only one time-scale evolutionary stage. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is an ideal environment for studying the IMF because it contains compact clusters at different evolutionary stages. By studying the IMF at different evolutionary stages, we can see how the mass function evolves with time.