Global evolutionary effects in the Magellanic Clouds
Abstract
Following Larson and Tinsley (1978) the integrated colors of the MCs from the UV to the red can be used to obtain the ratio of the present rate of star formation to the total amount of stars formed. Other tracers of recent star formation (number of bright stars and supernova remnants, H-alpha emission, etc.) are used to determine the present rate of star formation and to obtain some information on the initial mass function. The recent (t less than a few tens of Myrs) history of star formation in the MCs is then discussed. Finally, it is found that the ratio (present rate)/(total amount of stars ever formed) is of the order of 0.1/Gyr for both Clouds, implying a rather uniform average rate of star formation if the Cloud ages are the order of 10 Gyr. These results are confronted with the metallicity-age relation and the age distribution of stars and clusters.
- Publication:
-
Structure and Evolution of the Magellanic Clouds
- Pub Date:
- September 1984
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S0074180900039966
- Bibcode:
- 1984IAUS..108...67L
- Keywords:
-
- Galactic Evolution;
- Magellanic Clouds;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Far Ultraviolet Radiation;
- Lyman Spectra;
- Stellar Mass;
- Astrophysics