The poorly constrained cluster disruption time-scale in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

We use Monte-Carlo simulations, combined with homogeneously determined age and mass distributions based on multi-wavelength photometry, to constrain the cluster formation history and the rate of bound cluster disruption in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) cluster system. We evolve synthetic star cluster systems formed with a power-law initial cluster mass function (ICMF) of spectral index $\alpha =-2$ assuming different cluster disruption time-scales. For each of these disruption time-scales we derive the corresponding cluster formation rate (CFR) required to reproduce the observed cluster age distribution. We then compare, in a Poissonian ${\chi }^2$ sense, model mass distributions and model two-dimensional distributions in log(mass) vs. log(age) space of the detected surviving clusters to the observations. Because of the bright detection limit ($M_V^{\lim }\simeq -4.7$ mag) above which the observed cluster sample is complete, one cannot constrain the characteristic disruption time-scale for a $10^4$ M${}_{\odot }$ cluster, $t_4^{\mathrm{dis}}$ (where the disruption time-scale depends on cluster mass as $t_{\mathrm{dis}}=t_4^{\mathrm{dis}}(M_{\mathrm{cl}}/10^4{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }{)}^0.62$), to better than $t_4^{\mathrm{dis}}\ge 1$ Gyr. We conclude that the CFR has increased from 0.3 clusters Myr${}^{-1}$ 5 Gyr ago, to a present rate of $(20-30)$ clusters Myr${}^{-1}$. For older ages the derived CFR depends sensitively on our assumption of the underlying CMF shape. If we assume a universal Gaussian ICMF, then the CFR has increased steadily over a Hubble time from $\sim 1$ cluster Gyr${}^{-1}$ 15 Gyr ago to its present value. If the ICMF has always been a power law with a slope close to $\alpha =-2$, the CFR exhibits a minimum some 5 Gyr ago, which we tentatively identify with the well-known age gap in the LMC's cluster age distribution.

20 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (46)

• Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• Embedded Clusters in Molecular Clouds
• The Dust Opacity of Star-Forming Galaxies
• Dynamical evolution of star clusters in tidal fields
• Are the Magellanic Clouds on their First Passage about the Milky Way?
• Numerical Methods of Star Formation History Measurement and Applications to Seven Dwarf Spheroidals
• Reddening and Star Formation in Starburst Galaxies
• Dynamical Evolution of the Mass Function of Globular Star Clusters
• Gas expulsion and the destruction of massive young clusters
• The Mass Function of Young Star Clusters in the "Antennae" Galaxies
• A UBVR CCD Survey of the Magellanic Clouds
• Spectral and Photometric Evolution of Young Stellar Populations: the Impact of Gaseous Emission at Various Metallicities
• The Proper Motion of the Large Magellanic Cloud using HST
• An analytical description of the disruption of star clusters in tidal fields with an application to Galactic open clusters
• Is the SMC Bound to the LMC? The HST Proper Motion of the SMC
• Evidence for the Strong Effect of Gas Removal on the Internal Dynamics of Young Stellar Clusters
• The Efficiency of Globular Cluster Formation
• Cluster Mass Functions in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds: Fading and Size of Sample Effects
• The Age Distribution of Massive Star Clusters in the Antennae Galaxies
• The Star Cluster Population of M51: II. Age distribution and relations among the derived parameters
• Clusters in the inner spiral arms of M51: the cluster IMF and the formation history
• Star Cluster Formation and Disruption Time-Scales -- I. An empirical determination of the disruption time of star clusters in four galaxies
• Star Cluster Formation and Evolution in Nearby Starburst Galaxies: II. Initial Conditions
• Disruption time scales of star clusters in different galaxies
• Analysing observed star cluster SEDs with evolutionary synthesis models: Systematic uncertainties
• Formation and evolution of the Magellanic Clouds. I.Origin of structural, kinematical, and chemical properties of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Spectral & Photometric Evolution of Simple Stellar Populations at Various Metallicities
• A revised and extended catalog of Magellanic System clusters, associations and emission nebulae. II. the LMC
• How well do we know the age and mass distributions of the star cluster system in the Large Magellanic Cloud?
• Evolution of the mass function of the Galactic globular cluster system
• The Star Cluster Population of M51: III. Cluster disruption and formation history
• Star-formation in NGC 4038/4039 from broad- and narrow band photometry: Cluster Destruction?
• Star Cluster Formation and Evolution in Nearby Starburst Galaxies: I. Systematic Uncertainties
• Star Cluster Formation and Disruption Time-Scales - II. Evolution of the Star Cluster System in M82's Fossil Starburst
• The Origin of the Gaussian Initial Mass Function of Old Globular Cluster Systems
• Evolutionary Synthesis Of Simple Stellar Populations
• Systematic uncertainties in the analysis of star cluster parameters based on broad-band imaging observations
• Relations Between the Luminosity, Mass, and Age Distributions of Young Star Clusters
• New Light on the Initial Mass Function of the Galactic Halo Globular Clusters
• On the infant weight loss of low- to intermediate-mass star clusters
• The Young Cluster Population of M82 Region B
• The initial mass distribution of the M82 star cluster system
• Luminosity Function of Faint Globular Clusters in M87
• The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Catalog of Star Clusters from the Large Magellanic Cloud
• HST Survey of Clusters in Nearby Galaxies. II. Statistical Analysis of Cluster Populations

Cited by in corpus (32)

• Young massive star clusters
• Ages and Luminosities of Young SMC/LMC Star Clusters and the recent Star Formation History of the Clouds
• The Luminosity, Mass, and Age Distributions of Compact Star Clusters in M83 Based on HST/WFC3 Observations
• The star cluster formation history of the LMC
• New Tests for Disruption Mechanisms of Star Clusters: The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
• The early evolution of the star cluster mass function
• An alternative method to study star cluster disruption
• Estimators for the exponent and upper limit, and goodness-of-fit tests for (truncated) power-law distributions
• Analysing star cluster populations with stochastic models: the HST/WFC3 sample of clusters in M83
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury V: Ages and Masses of the Year 1 Stellar Clusters
• Age and Mass for 920 LMC Clusters Derived from 100 Million Monte Carlo Simulations
• Structural Parameters of Seven SMC Intermediate-Age and Old Star Clusters
• Dynamical masses and mass-to-light ratios of resolved massive star clusters -- II. Results for 26 star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds
• Compact Star Clusters in the M31 Disk
• Star cluster formation history along the minor axis of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Hierarchical structures in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
• When efficient star formation drives cluster formation
• A Comparison of Methods for Determining the Age Distribution of Star Clusters: Application to the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The VMC survey - XVI. Spatial variation of the cluster-formation activity in the innermost regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The star formation history of the Large Magellanic Cloud as seen by star clusters and stars
• No Evidence for Chemical Abundance Variations in the Intermediate-age Cluster NGC 1783
• No compelling evidence of significant early star cluster disruption in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Simple Stellar Population Models as probed by the Large Magellanic Cloud Star Cluster ESO 121-SC03
• Global properties, fractality, and mass segregation in single, paired, and grouped open clusters
• The Formation of Binary Star Clusters in the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud
• Solar System formation
• The puzzle of the cluster-forming core mass-radius relation and why it matters
• Probing the LMC age gap at intermediate cluster masses
• Star cluster disruption in the starburst galaxy Messier 82
• Gas surface density, star formation rate surface density, and the maximum mass of young star clusters in a disk galaxy. II. The grand-design galaxy M51
• The high mass end of extragalactic globular clusters
• Star cluster evolution in the Magellanic Clouds revisited