Size diversity of old Large Magellanic Cloud clusters as determined by internal dynamical evolution

Abstract

The distribution of size as a function of age observed for star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is very puzzling: young clusters are all compact, while the oldest systems show both small and large sizes. This phenomenon is commonly interpreted as being due to a population of binary black holes driving a progressive expansion of cluster cores. Here we propose, instead, that it is the natural consequence of the fact that only relatively low-mass clusters have formed in the past 3 Gyr in the LMC and only the most compact systems survived and are observable. The spread in size displayed by the oldest (and most massive) clusters, instead, can be explained in terms of initial conditions and internal dynamical evolution. To quantitatively explore the role of the latter, we selected a sample of five coeval and old LMC clusters with different sizes, and we estimated their dynamical age from the level of central segregation of blue straggler stars (the so-called dynamical clock). Similarly to what is found in the Milky Way, we indeed measure different levels of dynamical evolution among the selected coeval clusters, with large-core systems being dynamically younger than those with small size. This behaviour is fully consistent with what is expected from internal dynamical evolution processes over timescales mainly set by the structure of each system at formation.