The intermediate-age globular cluster NGC 1783 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

TL;DR

This study uses Hubble data to analyze the structure and age of the intermediate-age globular cluster NGC 1783 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, revealing its ellipticity, density profile, and an age of approximately 1.4 billion years.

Contribution

It provides detailed structural parameters and age estimation of NGC 1783 using advanced photometry and isochrone models with overshooting, which enhances understanding of intermediate-age clusters.

Findings

Cluster has ellipticity of 0.14.

Density profile fits a King model with extended core.

Age estimated at 1.4 Gyr with overshooting models.

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope ACS deep photometry of the intermediate-age globular cluster NGC 1783 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. By using this photometric dataset, we have determined the degree of ellipticity of the cluster ($\epsilon$=0.14$\pm$0.03) and the radial density profile. This profile is well reproduced by a standard King model with an extended core (r_c=24.5'') and a low concentration (c=1.16), indicating that the cluster has not experienced the collapse of the core. We also derived the cluster age, by using the Pisa Evolutionary Library (PEL) isochrones, with three different amount of overshooting (namely, $\Lambda_{os}$=0.0, 0.10 and 0.25). From the comparison of the observed Color-Magnitude Diagram (CMD) and Main Sequence (MS) Luminosity Function (LF) with the theoretical isochrones and LFs, we find that only models with the inclusion of some overshooting ($\Lambda_{os}$=0.10-0.25) are able to reproduce the observables. By using the magnitude difference $\delta V_{SGB}^{He-Cl}=0.90$ between the mean level of the He-clump and the flat region of the SGB, we derive an age $\tau$=1.4$\pm$0.2 Gyr.