Star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds and their mass functions

Abstract

Study of star clusters in a galaxy throws light not only on the processes of star formation and evolution in the galaxy but also on the structure and evolution of the galaxy. In this respect, star clusters of the Magellanic Clouds are of extreme importance because they differ from those of our galaxy in many important respects, e.g. they occupy regions of the age and metallicity domain which are not populated in our galaxy. Therefore they extend the range of comparison between stellar evolutionary theory and observational data. As the evolutionary history of the Magellanic Clouds has been very different from that of our galaxy, study of the mass function of those young star clusters which are rich in stars, and span a wide mass range, can provide the answer to the astrophysically important question of the universality of the shape of the initial mass function in time and space.