Resolved Massive Star Clusters in the Milky Way and Its Satellites: Brightness Profiles and a Catalog of Fundamental Parameters

Abstract

We present a database of structural and dynamical properties for 153 spatially resolved star clusters in the Milky Way, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and the Fornax dwarf spheroidal. This database complements and extends others in the literature, such as those of Harris and Mackey & Gilmore. Our cluster sample comprises 50 "young massive clusters" in the LMC and SMC, and 103 old globular clusters between the four galaxies. The parameters we list include central and half-light-averaged surface brightnesses and mass densities; core and effective radii; central potentials, concentration parameters, and tidal radii; predicted central velocity dispersions and escape velocities; total luminosities, masses, and binding energies; central phase-space densities; half-mass relaxation times; and "κ-space" parameters. We use publicly available population-synthesis models to compute stellar-population properties (intrinsic B - V colors, reddenings, and V -band mass-to-light ratios) for the same 153 clusters plus another 63 globulars in the Milky Way. We also take velocity-dispersion measurements from the literature for a subset of 57 (mostly old) clusters to derive dynamical mass-to-light ratios for them, showing that these compare very well to the population-synthesis predictions. The combined data set is intended to serve as the basis for future investigations of structural correlations and the fundamental plane of massive star clusters, including especially comparisons between the systemic properties of young and old clusters. The structural and dynamical parameters are derived from fitting three different models—the modified isothermal sphere of King; an alternate modified isothermal sphere based on the ad hoc stellar distribution function of Wilson; and asymptotic power-law models with constant-density cores—to the surface-brightness profile of each cluster. Surface-brightness data for the LMC, SMC, and Fornax clusters are based in large part on the work of Mackey & Gilmore, but include significant supplementary data culled from the literature and important corrections to Mackey & Gilmore's V -band magnitude scale. The profiles of Galactic globular clusters are taken from Trager et al. We address the question of which model fits each cluster best, finding in the majority of cases that the Wilson models—which are spatially more extended than King models but still include a finite, "tidal" cutoff in density—fit clusters of any age, in any galaxy, as well as or better than King models. Untruncated, asymptotic power laws often fit about as well as Wilson models but can be significantly worse. We argue that the extended halos known to characterize many Magellanic Cloud clusters may be examples of the generic envelope structure of self-gravitating star clusters, not just transient features associated strictly with young age.