On the Individual Masses of Globular Clusters in the Magellanic Clouds: NGC 1835

A multimass anisotropic dynamical model is applied to the observational constraints given by the surface brightness profile and the central velocity dispersion of NGC 1835, an old globular cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The total mass obtained for this cluster is larger than the previous determinations by at least a factor of 5. The method most frequently used to determine the total mass of Magellanic Clouds globular clusters consists of transforming the observed tidal radius into mass, under the assumption of circular orbit of the clusters, due to rotation. Taking into account the above new results, this former method should be used only with great care in the case of Magellanic clusters. The systematic difference observed a few years ago between the typical mass of globular clusters in the Galaxy (greater than 10^5^ M_sun_) and in the Magellanic Clouds (less than 10^5^ M_sun_) could be a simple artifact of the methods used, as already suggested by other recent studies. The remaining difference in M/L_V_ could be explained by the ages, smaller in the Clouds than in the Galaxy.