1970Aj 75. . 933H the Astronomical Journal
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933H . 75. THE ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL VOLUME 75, NUMBER 8 OCTOBER 1970 The System of Stellar Associations of the Large Magellanic Cloud 1970AJ Paul W. Hodge and Peter B. Lucke Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Received 13 May 1970; revised 10 July 1970) From a study of the 122 recognized stellar O associations in the Large Magellanic Cloud it is found that the mean diameter is 78 pc, similar to the mean diameter of stellar associations recognized in the solar neigh- borhood. The mean number of stars with absolute visual magnitudes brighter than about —4 per 103 projected square parsecs in the associations is 19, while the mean total population of such stars is 18 per stellar association. Both of these figures are somewhat larger than the populations and the population densities of such stars in stellar associations near the sun. There is a considerable spread in the densities of bright stars in the LMC’s associations, but a general over-all correlation exists between the size of the asso- ciation and the total number of stars. Fifteen “star clouds” are recognized and these have a mean diameter of 225 pc, with total populations averaging 32 stars brighter than A/V= —4.2. In dimensions these objects are more similar to the objects studied in M31 by van den Bergh than are the majority of the stellar associa- tions in the LMC or our Galaxy. There is, however, no obvious discontinuity between the characteristics of the two kinds of objects. The radial distribution of the associations is shown in Fig. 2. It appears to be considerably steeper than the radial distribution of stars or H i in the LMC. Sixteen of the associations contain clusters that are probably coexistent physically, only a few of which might be superimposed by chance on the association. These clusters seem to be similar to the nuclei found in some stellar associations of our Galaxy. A total of 96 of the 122 recognized stellar associations contain H n regions. The Ha fluxes of these H ii regions are related to the mean stellar densities of the associations. I. INTRODUCTION densities are based on calculations of the areas made from the original identification charts and the counts THE importance of the study of stellar associations published in the catalogue. The mean total populations in the neighborhood of the sun has been clearly were taken directly from the published counts. In all demonstrated, both with regard to the local structure cases, the distance modulus to the LMC was taken as of the Galaxy and with regard to the physical processes 18.90 (Hodge and Wright 1969; Gascoigne involved in star formation (Gratton 1963; Blaauw 1969). 1964). Stellar associations in other galaxies are also A comparison in Table I with our Galaxy and with important for these reasons and offer the further M31 shows several similarities and differences. First, advantage over the local objects of being somewhat in the estimated total number of the associations, the easier to sample and study as members of a complete 122 LMC objects total considerably fewer than the system. The larger associations in the Andromeda more than 1000 stellar associations estimated to be in Galaxy have been examined by van den Bergh (1964) our Galaxy (Gratton 1963). However, considering the and many of the Magellanic Cloud stellar associations factor of approximately 10 in the difference of the total have been studied in detail in recent papers (Woolley masses of the galaxies, this discrepancy is roughly 1960; Westerlund 1961; Hodge 1961; Bok and Bok accounted for. It appears possible then, that the LMC 1962; Bok et al. 1962; Bok 1964; Walker and Morris stellar associations are sampled almost (but probably 1968; Hodge 1970a). not quite) as thoroughly as are stellar associations near The present analysis of the system of stellar associa- the sun. Comparison with M31, on the other hand, tions in the Large Magellanic Cloud is based on the shows a very considerable difference with our Galaxy, catalogue of such objects published by Lucke and supporting the conclusion of van den Bergh (1964) Hodge (1970). We have studied the physical charac- teristics and the spatial distribution of the objects in an attempt to evaluate the physical properties of the Table I. Characteristics of LMC O associations, system of associations as quantitatively as possible. compared to those in other galaxies. Associations II. MEAN CHARACTERISTICS Feature LMC Galaxya M31b In order to make a comparison of the properties of Estimated total number of the stellar associations in the Large Magellanic Cloud associations 122 103-104 1 88 with those in other galaxies, we have calculated their Mean diameter (pc) 78 «60 480 mean characteristics. Table I summarizes the results. Mean projected densities (number3 2 The mean diameter was calculated on the basis of the of stars with M 7 < — 4 per 10 pc ) 19° « 3 18 « 7 major diameters of the stellar associations, as delineated Mean total population (Mv<—4) in the catalogue (Lucke and Hodge 1970), in order to •From Gratton (1963) and Blaauw (1964). b From van den Bergh (1964). conform with the procedure adopted by van den Bergh ° This figure includes, on the average, one field star, according to the for the associations in M31. The quoted mean projected figures given by Hodge (1961). 933 © American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System 933H . 75. 934 HODGE AND LUCKE effects. Particularly, such effects probably account for the sharp cutoff that seems to allow virtually no objects 1970AJ in the lower right-hand portion of Fig. 1, due probably to the fact that any objects that might occupy that region in the diagram would most likely be identified as star clusters rather than stellar associations. Selection effects may also explain the differences between the size distribution of stellar associations in M31 and that for the LMC (Fig. 2). The vast majority of the LMC associations are smaller than 150 pc, whereas almost all of the M31 associations are larger than this. Possibly because of the limitation of resolu- Fig. 1. The relationship between the average diameter of associations (the mean of the major and minor axes) and the number of counted stars brighter than apparent V mag 14.7. that his survey includes only the very largest objects that might be termed stellar associations. The mean diameter of the LMC associations is 78 pc, only slightly and not significantly larger than the estimated mean diameter of stellar associations MFig. 2. A comparison of the size distribution of LMC stellar associations and that reported by van den Bergh (1964) for near the sun (about 60 pc). This further supports the M31. conclusion that roughly similar objects are being examined. Those in M31, however, have the very tion and because of a different set of rules of discrimi- much larger mean diameter of 480 pc. nation, the M31 survey did not include many associa- The mean projected density of stars with absolute tions that may exist with diameters smaller than this visual magnitudes greater than —4.2 are also compared limit. As near as Fig. 2 can show, the size distribution in Table I, with the result that the LMC associations for associations larger than 150 pc is the same for the have significantly more such stars than do those in the two galaxies. Over that interval, there are nearly 10 solar neighborhood. It is likely that the difference is times as many associations in M31 as in the LMC. too large to be due entirely to systematic selection Since this is approximately the ratio of the masses of the effects and that there is a relative overabundance of two galaxies, the relative number of associations in the young stellar associations in the LMC compared to two is possibly very nearly the same. the local neighborhood. This possibility is further The largest complexes of O stars in the Large Magel- supported by the comparison of the mean total popu- lanic Cloud are those termed “star clouds” and identi- lations of such luminous star members, which are more fied by an S in the catalogue of Lucke and Hodge (1970). than twice as great in the LMC as in the local Galaxy. A total of 15 of these objects are identified in the LMC Such an overabundance of younger stellar associations and their mean average dimension is 12.8 arc min, or in the LMC is consistent with other evidence that the 225 pc. As many of the star clouds are highly elongated, LMC has recently experienced a relatively accelerated major dimensions average about twice this value, rate of star formation compared to our Galaxy (Payne- making these objects almost identical in size to the Gaposchkin 1969). M31 sample. The characteristics of the star clouds of the Although the density of supergiant stars (with My LMC are summarized in Table II. brighter than —4.2) varies over a wide range, from 1.6 stars per 1000 pc2 for association number 59 to 60 stars III. SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION per 1000 pc2 for association number 111, there is never- theless a clear correlation between the number of stars In order to analyze the projected radial distribution and the size of the associations (Fig. 1). To a certain in space of the system of stellar associations in the extent, this relationship is possibly due to selection LMC, the centroid of the system was first located by © American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System 933H . 75. ASSOCIATIONS OF THE LMC 935 averaging the positions in an X-Y plane of all 122 Table II.