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| Paper: |
Old Stellar Populations as Structural Tracer of the Magellanic Cloud Complex |
| Volume: |
491, Fifty Years of Wide Field Studies in the Southern Hemisphere: Resolved Stellar Populations in the Galactic Bulge and the Magellanic Clouds |
| Page: |
317 |
| Authors: |
Saha, A.; Olszewski, E. W. |
| Abstract: |
We present results from the the NOAO Outer Limits Survey (OLS)
in the context of the new paradigm that the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)
and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are
approaching the Galaxy for the first time, and are not, as previously
thought, orbiting quasi-periodically. The OLS identifies old and
intermediate stellar populations associated with the LMC and SMC
to unprecedented distances outside these galaxies. The distribution of these
older stars are a fossil record of the interaction history of both
Magellanic Clouds, both between themselves and with the Milky Way.
A stable extended disk to beyond 12 scale lengths has been
identified in the LMC, which is unlikely to have survived multiple
approaches to the Galaxy. An extra-tidal distribution of stars
around the SMC, however, are consistent with tidal disruption due to
interactions with the LMC. We show that the Magellanic Bridge
contains old stars, consistent with it being a tidal feature due to
LMC-SMC interaction. |
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