The Snapshot Hubble U-Band Cluster Survey (SHUCS) II. Star Cluster Population of NGC 2997

Abstract

We study the star cluster population of NGC 2997, a giant spiral galaxy located at 9.5 Mpc and targeted by the Snapshot Hubble U-band Cluster Survey (SHUCS). Combining our U-band imaging from SHUCS with archival BVI imaging from HST, we select a high confidence sample of clusters in the circumnuclear ring and disk through a combination of automatic detection procedures and visual inspection. The cluster luminosity functions in all four filters can be approximated by power-laws with indices of $-1.7$ to $-2.3$. Some deviations from pure power-law shape are observed, hinting at the presence of a high-mass truncation in the cluster mass function. However, upon inspection of the cluster mass function, we find it is consistent with a pure power-law of index $-2.2\pm 0.2$ despite a slight bend at $\sim$$2.5\times 10^4$ M${}_{\odot }$. No statistically significant truncation is observed. From the cluster age distributions, we find a low rate of disruption ($\hat{I}\P \sim -0.1$) in both the disk and circumnuclear ring. Finally, we estimate the cluster formation efficiency ($\hat{I}“$) over the last 100 Myr in each region, finding $7\pm 2$% for the disk, $12\pm 4$% for the circumnuclear ring, and $10\pm 3$% for the entire UBVI footprint. This study highlights the need for wide-field UBVI coverage of galaxies to study cluster populations in detail, though a small sample of clusters can provide significant insight into the characteristics of the population.

31 pages, 9 figures, accepted to the AJ