TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sun, Ning-Chen
A1  - de Grijs, Richard
A1  - Subramanian, Smitha
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Rubele, Stefano
A1  - Bekki, Kenji
A1  - Ivanov, Valentin D.
A1  - Piatti, Andrés E.
A1  - Ripepi, Vincenzo
T1  - The VMC Survey. XXII. Hierarchical star formation in the 30 Doradus-N158-N159-N160 star-forming complex
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We study the hierarchical stellar structures in a similar to 1.5 deg(2) area covering the 30. Doradus-N158-N159-N160 starforming complex with the VISTA Survey of. Magellanic Clouds. Based on the young upper main-sequence stars, we find that the surface densities cover a wide range of values, from log(Sigma.pc(2))less than or similar to -2.0 to log(Sigma. pc(2)) greater than or similar to 0.0. Their distributions are highly non-uniform, showing groups that frequently have subgroups inside. The sizes of the stellar groups do not exhibit characteristic values, and range continuously from several parsecs to more than 100. pc; the cumulative size distribution can be well described by a single power law, with the power-law index indicating a projected fractal dimension D-2 = 1.6 +/- 0.3. We suggest that the phenomena revealed here support a scenario of hierarchical star formation. Comparisons with other star-forming regions and galaxies are also discussed.
KW  - galaxies: clusters: general
KW  - infrared: stars
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
KW  - stars: formation
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/835/2/171
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 835
IS  - 2
PB  - Institute of Physics Publ.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Subramanian, Smitha
A1  - Rubele, Stefano
A1  - Sun, Ning-Chen
A1  - Girardi, Leo
A1  - de Grijs, Richard
A1  - van Loon, Jacco Th.
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Piatti, Andres E.
A1  - Bekki, Kenji
A1  - Emerson, Jim
A1  - Ivanov, Valentin D.
A1  - Kerber, Leandro
A1  - Marconi, Marcella
A1  - Ripepi, Vincenzo
A1  - Tatton, Benjamin L.
T1  - The VMC Survey - XXIV. Signatures of tidally stripped stellar populations from the inner Small Magellanic Cloud
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
KW  - stars: individual: red clump stars
KW  - galaxies: interactions
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx205
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 467
SP  - 2980
EP  - 2995
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Nidever, David L.
A1  - Olsen, Knut
A1  - Walker, Alistair R.
A1  - Katherina Vivas, A.
A1  - Blum, Robert D.
A1  - Kaleida, Catherine
A1  - Choi, Yumi
A1  - Conn, Blair C.
A1  - Gruendl, Robert A.
A1  - Bell, Eric F.
A1  - Besla, Gurtina
A1  - Munoz, Ricardo R.
A1  - Gallart, Carme
A1  - Martin, Nicolas F.
A1  - Olszewski, Edward W.
A1  - Saha, Abhijit
A1  - Monachesi, Antonela
A1  - Monelli, Matteo
A1  - de Boer, Thomas J. L.
A1  - Johnson, L. Clifton
A1  - Zaritsky, Dennis
A1  - Stringfellow, Guy S.
A1  - van der Marel, Roeland P.
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Jin, Shoko
A1  - Majewski, Steven R.
A1  - Martinez-Delgado, David
A1  - Monteagudo, Lara
A1  - Noel, Noelia E. D.
A1  - Bernard, Edouard J.
A1  - Kunder, Andrea
A1  - Chu, You-Hua
A1  - Bell, Cameron P. M.
A1  - Santana, Felipe
A1  - Frechem, Joshua
A1  - Medina, Gustavo E.
A1  - Parkash, Vaishali
A1  - Seron Navarrete, J. C.
A1  - Hayes, Christian
T1  - SMASH: Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History
JF  - The astronomical journal
N2  - The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are unique local laboratories for studying the formation and evolution of small galaxies in exquisite detail. The Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH) is an NOAO community Dark Energy Camera (DECam) survey of the Clouds mapping 480 deg2 (distributed over similar to 2400 square degrees at similar to 20% filling factor) to similar to 24th. mag in ugriz. The primary goals of SMASH are to identify low surface brightness stellar populations associated with the stellar halos and tidal debris of the Clouds, and to derive spatially resolved star formation histories. Here, we present a summary of the survey, its data reduction, and a description of the first public Data Release (DR1). The SMASH DECam data have been reduced with a combination of the NOAO Community Pipeline, the PHOTRED automated point-spread-function photometry pipeline, and custom calibration software. The astrometric precision is similar to 15 mas and the accuracy is similar to 2 mas with respect to the Gaia reference frame. The photometric precision is similar to 0.5%-0.7% in griz and similar to 1% in u with a calibration accuracy of similar to 1.3% in all bands. The median 5s point source depths in ugriz are 23.9, 24.8, 24.5, 24.2, and 23.5 mag. The SMASH data have already been used to discover the Hydra II Milky Way satellite, the SMASH 1 old globular cluster likely associated with the LMC, and extended stellar populations around the LMC out to R. similar to. 18.4 kpc. SMASH DR1 contains measurements of similar to 100 million objects distributed in 61 fields. A prototype version of the NOAO Data Lab provides data access and exploration tools.
KW  - galaxies: dwarf
KW  - galaxies: individual (Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud)
KW  - Local Group
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
KW  - surveys
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aa8d1c
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
VL  - 154
SP  - 310
EP  - 326
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sun, Ning-Chen
A1  - de Grijs, Richard
A1  - Subramanian, Smitha
A1  - Bekki, Kenji
A1  - Bell, Cameron P. M.
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Ivanov, Valentin D.
A1  - Marconi, Marcella
A1  - Oliveira, Joana M.
A1  - Piatti, Andres E.
A1  - Ripepi, Vincenzo
A1  - Rubele, Stefano
A1  - Tatton, Ben L.
A1  - van Loon, Jacco Th.
T1  - The VMC Survey. XXII. Hierarchical Star Formation in the 30 Doradus-N158–N159–N160 Star-forming Complex
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - Star formation is a hierarchical process, forming young stellar structures of star clusters, associations, and complexes over a wide range of scales. The star-forming complex in the bar region of the Large Magellanic Cloud is investigated with upper main-sequence stars observed by the VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds. The upper main-sequence stars exhibit highly nonuniform distributions. Young stellar structures inside the complex are identified from the stellar density map as density enhancements of different significance levels. We find that these structures are hierarchically organized such that larger, lower-density structures contain one or several smaller, higher-density ones. They follow power-law size and mass distributions, as well as a lognormal surface density distribution. All these results support a scenario of hierarchical star formation regulated by turbulence. The temporal evolution of young stellar structures is explored by using subsamples of upper main-sequence stars with different magnitude and age ranges. While the youngest subsample, with a median age of log(tau/yr) = 7.2, contains the most substructure, progressively older ones are less and less substructured. The oldest subsample, with a median age of log(tau/yr) = 8.0, is almost indistinguishable from a uniform distribution on spatial scales of 30-300. pc, suggesting that the young stellar structures are completely dispersed on a timescale of similar to 100. Myr. These results are consistent with the characteristics of the 30. Doradus complex and the entire Large Magellanic Cloud, suggesting no significant environmental effects. We further point out that the fractal dimension may be method dependent for stellar samples with significant age spreads.
KW  - infrared: stars
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
KW  - stars: formation
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa911e
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 849
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Bekki, Kenji
A1  - Girardi, Leo
A1  - de Grijs, Richard
A1  - Irwin, Mike J.
A1  - Ivanov, Valentin D.
A1  - Marconi, Marcella
A1  - Oliveira, Joana M.
A1  - Piatti, Andres E.
A1  - Ripepi, Vincenzo
A1  - van Loon, Jacco Th.
T1  - XVII. Proper motions of the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way globular cluster 47 Tucanae
JF  - Physical review : E, Statistical, nonlinear and soft matter physics
N2  - Aims. In this study we use multi-epoch near-infrared observations from the VISTA survey of the Magellanic Cloud system (VMC) to measure the proper motions of different stellar populations in a tile of 1.5 deg2 in size in the direction of the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tuc. We obtain the proper motion of the cluster itself, of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), and of the field Milky Way stars.

Methods. Stars of the three main stellar components are selected according to their spatial distributions and their distributions in colour−magnitude diagrams. Their average coordinate displacement is computed from the difference between multiple Ks-band observations for stars as faint as Ks = 19 mag. Proper motions are derived from the slope of the best-fitting line among ten VMC epochs over a time baseline of ~1 yr. Background galaxies are used to calibrate the absolute astrometric reference frame.

Results. The resulting absolute proper motion of 47 Tuc is (μαcos(δ), μδ) = (+7.26 ± 0.03, −1.25 ± 0.03) mas yr-1. This measurement refers to about 35 000 sources distributed between 10′ and 60′ from the cluster centre. For the SMC we obtain (μαcos(δ), μδ) = (+1.16 ± 0.07, −0.81 ± 0.07) mas yr-1 from about 5250 red clump and red giant branch stars. The absolute proper motion of the Milky Way population in the line of sight (l = 305.9, b = −44.9) of this VISTA tile is (μαcos(δ), μδ) = (+10.22 ± 0.14, −1.27 ± 0.12) mas yr-1 and has been calculated from about 4000 sources. Systematic uncertainties associated with the astrometric reference system are 0.18 mas yr-1. Thanks to the proper motion we detect 47 Tuc stars beyond its tidal radius.
KW  - proper motions
KW  - surveys
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
KW  - globular clusters: individual: 47 Tucanae
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201527004
SN  - 1432-0746
VL  - 586
SP  - 67
EP  - 75
PB  - EDP Sciences
CY  - Les Ulis
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ivanov, Valentin D.
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Bekki, Kenji
A1  - de Grijs, Richard
A1  - Emerson, Jim
A1  - Gibson, Brad K.
A1  - Kamath, Devika
A1  - van Loon, Jacco Th.
A1  - Piatti, Andres E.
A1  - For, Bi-Qing
T1  - New quasars behind the Magellanic Clouds. Spectroscopic confirmation of near-infrared selected candidates
JF  - Current biology
N2  - Context. Quasi-stellar objects (quasars) located behind nearby galaxies provide an excellent absolute reference system for astrometric studies, but they are difficult to identify because of fore-and background contamination. Deep wide-field, high angular resolution surveys spanning the entire area of nearby galaxies are needed to obtain a complete census of such quasars. Aims. We embarked on a program to expand the quasar reference system behind the Large and the Small Magellanic Clouds, the Magellanic Bridge, and the Magellanic Stream that connects the Clouds with the Milky Way. Methods. Hundreds of quasar candidates were selected based on their near-infrared colors and variability properties from the ongoing public ESO VISTA Magellanic Clouds survey. A subset of 49 objects was followed up with optical spectroscopy. Results. We confirmed the quasar nature of 37 objects (34 new identifications): four are low redshift objects, three are probably stars, and the remaining three lack prominent spectral features for a secure classification. The bona fide quasars, identified from their broad emisison lines, are located as follows: 10 behind the LMC, 13 behind the SMC, and 14 behind the Bridge. The quasars span a redshift range from z similar to 0.5 to z similar to 4.1. Conclusions. Upon completion the VMC survey is expected to yield a total of similar to 1500 quasars with Y < 19.32 mag, J < 19.09 mag, and K-s < 18.04 mag.
KW  - surveys
KW  - infrared: galaxies
KW  - quasars: general
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201527398
SN  - 1432-0746
VL  - 588
PB  - EDP Sciences
CY  - Les Ulis
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Romita, Krista
A1  - Lada, Elizabeth
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
T1  - EMBEDDED CLUSTERS IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD USING THE VISTA MAGELLANIC CLOUDS SURVEY
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We present initial results of the first large-scale survey of embedded star clusters in molecular clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using near-infrared imaging from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Magellanic Clouds Survey. We explored a ~1.65 deg2 area of the LMC, which contains the well-known star-forming region 30 Doradus as well as ~14% of the galaxy's CO clouds, and identified 67 embedded cluster candidates, 45 of which are newly discovered as clusters. We have determined the sizes, luminosities, and masses for these embedded clusters, examined the star formation rates (SFRs) of their corresponding molecular clouds, and made a comparison between the LMC and the Milky Way. Our preliminary results indicate that embedded clusters in the LMC are generally larger, more luminous, and more massive than those in the local Milky Way. We also find that the surface densities of both embedded clusters and molecular clouds is ~3 times higher than in our local environment, the embedded cluster mass surface density is ~40 times higher, the SFR is ~20 times higher, and the star formation efficiency is ~10 times higher. Despite these differences, the SFRs of the LMC molecular clouds are consistent with the SFR scaling law presented in Lada et al. This consistency indicates that while the conditions of embedded cluster formation may vary between environments, the overall process within molecular clouds may be universal.
KW  - galaxies: star clusters: general
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
KW  - stars: formation
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/821/1/51
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 821
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ripepi, V.
A1  - Marconi, M.
A1  - Moretti, M. I.
A1  - Clementini, Gisella
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - de Grijs, R.
A1  - Emerson, J. P.
A1  - Groenewegen, M. A. T.
A1  - Ivanov, V. D.
A1  - Piatti, A. E.
T1  - THE VMC SURVEY. XIX. CLASSICAL CEPHEIDS IN THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Supplement series
N2  - The "VISTA near-infrared YJK(s) survey of the Magellanic Clouds System" (VMC) is collecting deep K-s-band time-series photometry of pulsating variable stars hosted by the two Magellanic Clouds and their connecting Bridge. In this paper, we present Y, J, K-s light curves for a sample of 4172 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Classical Cepheids (CCs). These data, complemented with literature V values, allowed us to construct a variety of period-luminosity (PL), period-luminosity-color (PLC), and period-Wesenheit (PW) relationships, which are valid for Fundamental (F), First Overtone (FO), and Second Overtone (SO) pulsators. The relations involving the V, J, K-s bands are in agreement with their counterparts in the literature. As for the Y band, to our knowledge, we present the first CC PL, PW, and PLC relations ever derived using this filter. We also present the first near-infrared PL, PW, and PLC relations for SO pulsators to date. We used PW(V, K-s) to estimate the relative SMC-LMC distance and, in turn, the absolute distance to the SMC. For the former quantity, we find a value of Delta mu = 0.55. +/- 0.04 mag, which is in rather good agreement with other evaluations based on CCs, but significantly larger than the results obtained from older population II distance indicators. This discrepancy might be due to the different geometric distributions of young and old tracers in both Clouds. As for the absolute distance to the SMC, our best estimates are mu(SMC) = 19.01 +/- 0.05 mag and mu(SMC) = 19.04 +/- 0.06 mag, based on two distance measurements to the LMC which rely on accurate CC and eclipsing Cepheid binary data, respectively.
KW  - distance scale
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
KW  - stars: oscillations
KW  - stars: variables: Cepheids
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/0067-0049/224/2/21
SN  - 0067-0049
SN  - 1538-4365
VL  - 224
SP  - 199
EP  - 229
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Moretti, M. I.
A1  - Clementini, Gisella
A1  - Marconi, V. Ripepi M.
A1  - Rubele, S.
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Muraveva, T.
A1  - Groenewegen, M. A. T.
A1  - Cross, N. J. G.
A1  - Ivanov, V. D.
A1  - Piatti, A. E.
A1  - de Grijs, R.
T1  - The VMC survey - XX. Identification of new Cepheids in the Small Magellanic Cloud
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - We present K-s-band light curves for 299 Cepheids in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) of which 288 are new discoveries that we have identified using multi-epoch near-infrared photometry obtained by the VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC). The new Cepheids have periods in the range from 0.34 to 9.1 d and cover the magnitude interval 12.9 <= currency sign < K-s > <= currency sign 17.6 mag. Our method was developed using variable stars previously identified by the optical microlensing survey OGLE. We focus on searching new Cepheids in external regions of the SMC for which complete VMC K-s-band observations are available and no comprehensive identification of different types of variable stars from other surveys exists yet.
KW  - methods: data analysis
KW  - surveys
KW  - stars: variables: Cepheids
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw716
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 459
SP  - 1687
EP  - 1697
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Piatti, Andres E.
A1  - Ivanov, Valentin D.
A1  - Rubele, Stefano
A1  - Marconi, Marcella
A1  - Ripepi, Vincenzo
A1  - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
A1  - Oliveira, Joana M.
A1  - Bekki, Kenji
T1  - The VMC Survey - XXI. New star cluster candidates discovered from infrared photometry in the Small Magellanic Cloud
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
KW  - techniques: photometric
KW  - galaxies: individual: SMC
KW  - Magellanic Clouds
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1000
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 460
SP  - 383
EP  - 395
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -