The Structure of Young Star Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The surface brightness profiles presented for 10 rich star clusters in the LMC extend over 8-10 mag in surface brightness, and to radii of 4 arcmin. The crossing times are shorter than the ages of the clusters, and the two-body relaxation times, except in a few of the cores, are noted to be significantly longer than the ages; the clusters are therefore well mixed, but not relaxed through stellar encounters. The possibility that the expansion of a newly formed cluster through either mass loss or violent relaxation could form a halo of unbound stars is examined in light of a calculation of the LMC's tidal field. 90 references.