T. Palma Abstract

Studying Star Clusters as Tracers of the Large Magellanic Cloud Metallic Enrichment

T. Palma (Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba), J.J. Clariá, D. Geisler, and A.V. Ahumada

Based on photometric observations made with the CTIO 4m telescope, we present the results of a study of the chemical evolution of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) for the last 2.2 Gyr. As tracers of the LMC metallic enrichment, we used 39 clusters projected on the bar, 27 on the inner disk and 15 on the outer disc. Our sample includes 44 previously unstudied clusters. In all cases we determined dimensions, reddenings, deprojected distances, ages and metallicities. We show that the more metal-rich clusters are mainly located in the inner disk, while those with subsolar metallicities are distributed throughout the entire disc. Intermediate-age clusters tend to be located at greater deprojected galactocentric distances while the youngest ones are mainly spread out in the inner disk. These trends are maintained when the sample is complemented with clusters observed by other authors in the same system. These results obtained reinforce the idea of the absence of a radial metallicity gradient in the LMC for clusters with subsolar metallicities. The resulting age-metallicity relationship appears to be independent from what LMC region is considered.