The Stellar Mass Spectrum in the Young Populous Cluster NGC 1866

Abstract

The young populous cluster NGC 1866 in the Large Magellanic Cloud LMC), which is probably one of the most massive object formed in the LMC during the last ~ 3 Gyr, appears to have an unexpectedly high mass-to-light ratio. From its velocity dispersion Fischer et al. (1992) find its mass to be (1.35 " 0.25) x 105 Mu. The luminosity of this cluster is MV = -8.93 " 0.13, corresponding to LV = (3.2 " 0.4) x 105 LV (u). This yields M/LV = 0.42 " 0.09 in solar units. For a cluster of age 0.1 Gyr such a relatively high mass-to-light ratio requires a mass spectrum with an exponent x = 1.72 " 0.09; or x = 1.75 " 0.09 if mass loss by evolving stars is taken into account.

To be published in the October 1999 issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Structure and Mass of a Young Globular Cluster in NGC 6946
• Anatomy of a Young Massive Star Cluster: NGC 1569-B
• The luminosity function of the Large Magellanic Cloud globular cluster NGC 1866
• Some Musings on Globular Cluster Systems