{
  "id": "2403.08516",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2024-03-13T13:24:57.000Z",
  "updated": "2024-03-13T13:24:57.000Z",
  "title": "What Does the Large Magellanic Cloud Look Like? It Depends on [M/H] and Age",
  "authors": [
    "Neige Frankel",
    "Rene Andrae",
    "Hans-Walter Rix",
    "Joshua Povick",
    "Vedant Chandra"
  ],
  "comment": "Submitted to ApJ; constructive comments would be appreciated",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA"
  ],
  "abstract": "We offer a new way to look at the Large Magellanic Cloud through stellar mono-abundance and mono-age-mono-abundance maps. These maps are based on $\\gtrsim 500\\,000$ member stars with photo-spectroscopic [M/H] and age estimates from Gaia DR3 data, and they are the first area-complete, metallicity- and age-differentiated stellar maps of any disk galaxy. Azimuthally averaged, these maps reveal a surprisingly simple picture of the Milky Way's largest satellite galaxy. For any [M/H] below -0.1 dex, the LMC's radial profile is well described by a simple exponential, but with a scale length that steadily shrinks towards higher metallicities, from nearly 2.3~kpc at [M/H]$=-1.8$ to only 0.75~kpc at [M/H]$=-0.25$. The prominence of the bar decreases dramatically with [M/H], making it barely discernible at [M/H]$\\lesssim -1.5$. Yet, even for metal-rich populations, the bar has little impact on the azimuthally averaged profile of the mono-abundance components. Including ages, we find that the scale length is a greater function of age than of metallicity, with younger populations far more centrally concentrated. At old ages, the scale length decreases with increasing metallicity; at young ages, the scale-length is independent of metallicity. These findings provide quantitative support for a scenario where the LMC built its stellar structure effectively outside in.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2024-03-13T13:24:57.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "large magellanic cloud look",
      "scale length",
      "milky ways largest satellite galaxy",
      "metallicity",
      "stellar structure effectively outside"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}