POPULATION PARAMETERS OF INTERMEDIATE-AGE STAR CLUSTERS IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD. III. DYNAMICAL EVIDENCE FOR A RANGE OF AGES BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR EXTENDED MAIN-SEQUENCE TURNOFFS
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Av. Vicuna Mackenna 4860, Macul 7820436, Santiago (Chile)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Toledo, 2801 West Bancroft Street, Toledo, OH 43606 (United States)
We present a new analysis of 11 intermediate-age (1-2 Gyr) star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud based on Hubble Space Telescope imaging data. Seven of the clusters feature main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) regions that are wider than can be accounted for by a simple stellar population, whereas their red giant branches (RGBs) indicate a single value of [Fe/H]. The star clusters cover a range in present-day mass from about 1 x 10{sup 4} M{sub sun} to 2 x 10{sup 5} M{sub sun}. We compare radial distributions of stars in the upper and lower parts of the MSTO region, and calculate cluster masses and escape velocities from the present time back to a cluster age of 10 Myr. Our main result is that for all clusters in our sample with estimated escape velocities v{sub esc} {approx}> 15 km s{sup -1} at an age of 10 Myr, the stars in the brightest half of the MSTO region are significantly more centrally concentrated than the stars in the faintest half and more massive RGB and asymptotic giant branch stars. This is not the case for clusters with v{sub esc} {approx}< 10 km s{sup -1} at an age of 10 Myr. We argue that the wide MSTO region of such clusters is caused mainly by a {approx}200-500 Myr range in the ages of cluster stars due to extended star formation within the cluster from material shed by first-generation stars featuring slow stellar winds. Dilution of this enriched material by accretion of ambient interstellar matter is deemed plausible if the spread of [Fe/H] in this ambient gas was very small when the second-generation stars were formed in the cluster.
- OSTI ID:
- 21580008
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 737, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/737/1/4; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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