A search for star clusters in the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud: indication of clusters in the age gap

TL;DR

This study uses deep photometric surveys and a novel over-density detection method to identify and analyze star clusters in the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud, revealing clusters within the age gap and informing the Clouds' formation history.

Contribution

It introduces a combined over-density and CMD inspection technique to identify star clusters, including those in the age gap, in the Magellanic Clouds' outskirts.

Findings

Detected 85 candidate clusters in the LMC outskirts.

Identified 16 clusters within the age gap.

Provided insights into the formation and interaction history of the Magellanic Clouds.

Abstract

The YMCA (Yes, Magellanic Clouds Again) and STEP ({The SMC in Time: Evolution of a Prototype interacting late-type dwarf galaxy) projects are deep g,i photometric surveys carried out with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) and devoted to study the outskirts of the Magellanic System. A main goal of YMCA and STEP is to identify candidate stellar clusters and complete their census out to the outermost regions of the Magellanic Clouds. We adopted a specific over-density search technique coupled with a visual inspection of the color magnitude diagrams (CMDs) to select the best candidates and estimate their ages. To date, we analysed a region of 23 sq. deg. in the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud, detecting 85 candidate cluster candidates, 16 of which have estimated ages falling in the so called "age gap". We use these objects together with literature data to gain insight into the formation and interaction history of the Magellanic Clouds.