# The Search for Multiple Populations in Magellanic Cloud Clusters III: No evidence for Multiple Populations in the SMC cluster NGC 419

## TL;DR

This study finds no evidence of multiple stellar populations in the 1.5 Gyr old SMC cluster NGC 419, contrasting with earlier findings in older clusters, suggesting age may influence the presence of MPs.

## Contribution

First to analyze a relatively young (~1.5 Gyr) SMC cluster for MPs, providing new insights into the role of age in the MPs phenomenon.

## Key findings

- No MPs detected in NGC 419 based on [N/Fe] enhancement limits.
- Previous detections of MPs in older clusters suggest age impacts MPs presence.
- Mass and environment are unlikely sole factors influencing MPs occurrence.

## Abstract

We present the third paper about our ongoing HST survey for the search for multiple stellar populations (MPs) within Magellanic Cloud clusters. We report here the analysis of NGC 419, a $\sim 1.5$ Gyr old, massive ($\gtrsim 2 \times 10^5 \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$) star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). By comparing our photometric data with stellar isochrones, we set a limit on [N/Fe] enhancement of $\lesssim$+0.5 dex and hence we find that no MPs are detected in this cluster. This is surprising because, in the first two papers of this series, we found evidence for MPs in 4 other SMC clusters (NGC 121; Lindsay 1, NGC 339, NGC 416), aged from 6 Gyr up to $\sim 10-11$ Gyr. This finding raises the question whether age could play a major role in the MPs phenomenon. Additionally, our results appear to exclude mass or environment as the only key factors regulating the existence of a chemical enrichment, since all clusters studied so far in this survey are equally massive ($\sim 1-2 \times 10^5 \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$) and no particular patterns are found when looking at their spatial distribution in the SMC.