| |
 |
| Paper: |
The Recent Star Formation History of the Magellanic Clouds Traced by Classical Cepheids |
| Volume: |
491, Fifty Years of Wide Field Studies in the Southern Hemisphere: Resolved Stellar Populations in the Galactic Bulge and the Magellanic Clouds |
| Page: |
265 |
| Authors: |
Inno, L.; Bono, G.; Romaniello, M.; Matsunaga, N.; Pietrinferni, A.; Genovali, K.; Lemasle, B.; M.Marconi; Primas, F. |
| Abstract: |
We present a new theoretical calibration of the period–age (PA) relations
for classical Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs), by adopting a
homogeneous set of nonlinear, convective pulsation models and a detailed
set of intermediate–mass evolutionary tracks. The new PA relations were
applied to the sample of MC classical Cepheids collected by OGLE III to
investigate their recent star formation history.
We found that the MCs experienced an ongoing star formation activity during
the past 400 Myrs and the two systems show strong similarities.
Moreover, we also found that the star formation was quite homogeneous
when moving from the central bar regions to the more external regions.
Current findings support dynamical models predicting that the MCs are
binary galaxies in their first infall towards the Galaxy.
The shift in mean age between the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC, ∼140 Myr)
and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC, ∼230 Myr) is due to an intrinsic
evolutionary property. The SMC is more metal–poor than the LMC and the extent
in temperature of the blue loops is larger in the former system. |
|
|
|
|
|
