Computer Science
Scientific paper
Dec 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997hst..prop.7307g&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #7307
Computer Science
Hst Proposal Id #7307 Stellar Populations
Scientific paper
The Large Magellanic Cloud {LMC} is unique in containing massive star clusters at all stages of evolution. We propose to obtain deep images of optimally selected clusters, to probe their stellar content down to 0.2 Msun. In conjunction with state-of-the-art N-body models, these observations will help us understand the origin and evolution of rich star clusters in our own Galaxy, in the LMC, and beyond. In the youngest clusters the fraction of primordial binaries, the stellar initial mass function {IMF}, and the degree of primordial mass segregation will teach us about the process of star formation in a protocluster. Age spreads and a search for pre-main-sequence stars will reveal both the timescale for star formation, which has important implications for its trigger, and whether the low or high mass stars form first. In the intermediate and old clusters we will trace the development of mass segregation and the binary fraction in the core and at the half-mass radius; binaries play a crucial role in the structural evolution of a cluster, and in particular, affect the onset of core collapse. Finally, a comparison of the IMFs in our clusters will help answer the far-reaching question of whether there is such a thing as a universal IMF: the assumption of a universal IMF is fundamental to all attempts to use integrated light to infer the characteristics of stellar populations in galaxies too distant to resolve.
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