Spatially resolved LMC star formation history - I. Outside in evolution of the outer LMC disc

Stetson, P. B.; Carrera, R.; Hidalgo, S. L.; Aparicio, A.; Meschin, I.; Gallart, C.; Monelli, M.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 438, Issue 2, p.1067-1080

Advertised on:
2
2014
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
6
Citations
60
Refereed citations
57
Description
We study the evolution of three fields in the outer Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) disc (Rgc = 3.5-6.2 kpc). Their star formation history indicates a stellar population gradient such that younger stellar populations are more centrally concentrated. We identify two main star-forming epochs, separated by a period of lower activity between ≃7 and ≃4 Gyr ago. Their relative importance varies from a similar amount of stars formed in the two epochs in the innermost field to only 40 per cent of the stars formed in the more recent epoch in the outermost field. The young star-forming epoch continues to the present time in the innermost field, but lasted only till ≃0.8 and 1.3 Gyr ago at Rgc = 5.5° and 7.7°, respectively. This gradient is correlated with the measured H I column density and implies an outside-in quenching of the star formation, possibly related to a variation of the size of the H I disc. This could either result from gas depletion due to star formation or ram-pressure stripping, or from to the compression of the gas disc as ram pressure from the Milky Way halo acted on the LMC interstellar medium. The latter two situations may have occurred when the LMC first approached the Milky Way.
Related projects
NGC 2808 Globular Cluster
Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
The general aim of the project is to research the structure, evolutionary history and formation of galaxies through the study of their resolved stellar populations, both from photometry and spectroscopy. The group research concentrates in the most nearby objects, namely the Local Group galaxies including the Milky Way and M33 under the hypothesis
Martín
López Corredoira
A view of our Milky Way galaxy with its close neighbors the Magellanic Clouds
Galaxy Evolution in the Local Group
Galaxy formation and evolution is a fundamental Astrophysical problem. Its study requires “travelling back in time”, for which there are two complementary approaches. One is to analyse galaxy properties as a function of red-shift. Our team focuses on the other approach, called “Galactic Archaeology”. It is based on the determination of galaxy
Matteo
Monelli