Multiple stellar populations in Magellanic Cloud clusters. VI. A survey of multiple sequences and Be stars in young clusters

TL;DR

This study uses Hubble data to show that young clusters in the Magellanic Clouds commonly exhibit split main sequences and extended turnoffs, linked to stellar rotation differences, with implications for understanding stellar populations.

Contribution

First comprehensive survey of multiple populations and Be stars in young Magellanic Cloud clusters, linking rotation to observed stellar sequence features.

Findings

All clusters show extended main sequence turnoffs.

Red MS stars are fast rotators, blue MS stars are slow rotators.

Approximately half of the bright MS stars are Be stars.

Abstract

The split main sequences (MSs) and extended MS turnoffs (eMSTOs) detected in a few young clusters have demonstrated that these stellar systems host multiple populations differing in a number of properties such as rotation and, possibly, age.We analyze Hubble Space Telescope photometry for thirteen clusters with ages between ~40 and ~1000 Myrs and of different masses. Our goal is to investigate for the first time the occurrence of multiple populations in a large sample of young clusters. We find that all the clusters exhibit the eMSTO phenomenon and that MS stars more massive than ~1.6 solar masses define a blue and red MS, with the latter hosting the majority of MS stars. The comparison between the observations and isochrones suggests that the blue MSs are made of slow-rotating stars, while the red MSs host stars with rotational velocities close to the breakup value. About half of the bright MS stars in the youngest clusters are H-alpha emitters. These Be stars populate the red MS and the reddest part of the eMSTO thus supporting the idea that the red MS is made of fast rotators. We conclude that the split MS and the eMSTO are a common feature of young clusters in both Magellanic Clouds. The phenomena of a split MS and an eMSTO occur for stars that are more massive than a specific threshold which is independent of the host-cluster mass. As a by-product, we report the serendipitous discovery of a young SMC cluster, GALFOR1.