Young stellar population in the Magellanic Clouds

迄今为止，对银河系外年轻恒星群的研究仅限于在很小的区域内进行深光学HST研究（高空间分辨率），或大面积红外（斯皮策和赫歇尔）调查，只采样最大质量的年轻恒星，而且分辨率很低。ESO/VMC对麦哲伦星系的调查可以提供比斯皮策更好的空间分辨率，同时仍然覆盖整个麦哲伦星系的大片区域。它足够灵敏，可以在红外波长下对太阳的年轻恒星进行采样，因此弥合了以前研究之间的差距。这个博士项目将首次对整个星系的年轻恒星群进行公正的研究，这在银河系中是不可能的。它还将允许对整个系统的年轻恒星进行第一次系统的近红外变异性研究。这些观测到的特性将在星系特性（气体和尘埃）的背景下进行分析。该项目将涉及自动算法的开发，该算法可以识别大片天空区域的年轻人口。该博士项目与享有盛誉的ESO奖学金相关；因此，该学生将在ESO/Garching学习两年。

Studies of extragalactic young stellar populations have been hitherto restricted to deep optical HST studies (at high spatial resolution) over very small areas, or large area infrared (Spitzer and Herschel) surveys sampling only the most massive young stars and suffering from poor resolution. The ESO/VMC survey of the Magellanic Could allows better spatial resolution than Spitzer, while still covering the large area of the whole Magellanic System. It is sensitive enough to sample down to solar mas young stars at IR wavelengths therefore bridging the gap between the previous studies. This PhD project will provide the first unbiased study of the young stellar populations across whole galaxies, something that is not even possible in the Milky Way. It will also allow the first systematic near-infrared variability study of young stars across the system. Such observed properties will be analysed in the context of galactic properties (gas and dust). The project will involve the development of automatic algorithms that can identify the young populations over large sky areas. This PhD project is associated with a prestigious ESO studentship; the student will therefore spend two years at ESO/Garching.