Journal article

Observations and implications of the star formation history of the large magellanic cloud

JA Holtzman, JS Gallagher, AA Cole, JR Mould, CJ Grillmair, GE Ballester, CJ Burrows, JT Clarke, D Crisp, RW Evans, RE Griffiths, JJ Hester, JG Hoessel, PA Scowen, KR Stapelfeldt, JT Trauger, AM Watson

ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL | IOP PUBLISHING LTD | Published : 1999

Abstract

We present derivations of star formation histories based on color-magnitude diagrams of three fields in the LMC from HST/WFPC2 observations. One field is located in the LMC bar and the other two are in the outer disk. We find that a significant component of stars older than 4 Gyr is required to match the observed color-magnitude diagrams. Models with a dispersion-free age-metallicity relation are unable to reproduce the width of the observed main sequence; models with a range of metallicity at a given age provide a much better fit. Such models allow us to construct complete "population boxes" for the LMC based entirely on color-magnitude diagrams; remarkably, these qualitatively reproduce th..

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University of Melbourne Researchers