| Issue |
A&A
Volume 554, June 2013
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A16 | |
| Number of page(s) | 12 | |
| Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201220926 | |
| Published online | 30 May 2013 | |
Age – metallicity relation in the Magellanic Clouds clusters⋆,⋆⋆,⋆⋆⋆
1 Section of Astrophysics Astronomy & Mechanics, Department of Physics, University of Athens, 15783 Athens, Greece
e-mail: elivanou@phys.uoa.gr
2 Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens, PO Box 20048, 11810 Athens, Greece
3 Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen University, Astronomical Observatory, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
4 Facultad de Ciencias Astronomicas y Geofisicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, B 1900 FWA La Plata Buenos Aires, Argentina
5 Nordic Optical Telescope, Apartado 474, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain
Received: 14 December 2012
Accepted: 2 March 2013
Aims. We study small open star clusters, using Strömgren photometry to investigate a possible dependence between age and metallicity in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). Our goals are to trace evidence of an age metallicity relation (AMR) and correlate it with the mutual interactions of the two MCs and to correlate the AMR with the spatial distribution of the clusters. In the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the majority of the selected clusters are young (up to 1 Gyr), and we search for an AMR at this epoch, which has not been much studied.
Methods. We report results for 15 LMC and 8 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) clusters, scattered all over the area of these galaxies, to cover a wide spatial distribution and metallicity range. The selected LMC clusters were observed with the 1.54 m Danish Telescope in Chile, using the Danish Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (DFOSC) with a single 2k × 2k CCD. The SMC clusters were observed with the ESO 3.6 m Telescope, also in Chile, using the ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (EFOSC). The obtained frames were analysed with the conventional DAOPHOT and IRAF software. We used Strömgren filters in order to achieve reliable metallicities from photometry. Isochrone fitting was used to determine the ages and metallicities.
Results. The AMR for the LMC displays a metallicity gradient, with higher metallicities for the younger ages. The AMR for LMC-SMC star clusters shows a possible jump in metallicity and a considerable increase at about 6 × 108 yr. It is possible that this is connected to the latest LMC-SMC interaction. The AMR for the LMC also displays a metallicity gradient with distance from the centre. The metallicities in SMC are lower, as expected for a metal-poor host galaxy.
Key words: Magellanic Clouds / galaxies: abundances / galaxies: clusters: general
Based on observations made with the Danish 1.54 m and ESO 3.6 m Telescopes at La Silla Observatory, Chile.
Table 2 and Figs. 4 to 25 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
The raw dara plotted in Figs. 3 to 25 are only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/554/A16
© ESO, 2013
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