Deep Washington photometry of inconspicuous star cluster candidates in the Large Magellanic Cloud

TL;DR

This study uses deep Washington photometry to analyze 45 star cluster candidates in the Large Magellanic Cloud, estimating their parameters and revealing their age distribution, sizes, and masses, including the presence of small, less massive clusters.

Contribution

First systematic photometric analysis of poorly populated LMC clusters, providing new data on their ages, sizes, and mass distribution, especially for small clusters.

Findings

33 clusters with estimated parameters, including 23 single and 10 double clusters

Approximately 50% of true clusters are 100-300 Myr old

Sizes and masses comparable to Milky Way open clusters

Abstract

We present deep Washington photometry of 45 poorly populated star cluster candidates in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We have performed a systematic study to estimate the parameters of the cluster candidates by matching theoretical isochrones to the cleaned and de-reddened cluster color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). We were able to estimate the basic parameters for 33 clusters, out of which, 23 are identified as single clusters and 10 are found to be members of double clusters. Other 12 cluster candidates have been classified as possible clusters/asterisms. About 50% of the true clusters are in the 100-300 Myr age range, while some are older or younger. We have discussed the distribution of age, location, reddening with respect to field as well as size of true clusters. The sizes and masses of the studied sample are found to be similar to that of open clusters in the Milky Way. Our study adds to the lower end of cluster mass distribution in the LMC, suggesting that the LMC apart from hosting rich clusters also has formed small, less massive open clusters in the 100-300 Myr age range.