Due to their proximity and low foreground reddening, the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) are the natural benchmark to study the formation and evolution of star clusters and represent the nearest place to observe/investigate extragalactic star clusters. Unlike the Milky Way, the MCs host clusters of all ages, including large numbers of rich, massive young and intermediate-age clusters. From a global point of view the cluster formation histories of the LMC and SMC show large differences. In the LMC there is only one cluster with an age between 3 and 12 Gyr, whereas the SMC has formed clusters more uniformly over the last 12 Gyr. Intriguingly, most of intermediate age (~1-2 Gyr old) and young (~100-400 Myr old) clusters show complex color-magnitude diagrams, characterized by extended main-sequence turn-off (eMSTO) and split main sequence (MS). Some authors have suggested that the eMSTO and the split of MS are due to prolonged star-formation. As an alternative, the CMD of young and intermediate-age MCs clusters may be consistent with stellar populations with different rotation rates but the same age. In terms of age, star forming regions in the MCs (< 50 Myr) show growing evidence of several episodes of star formation during their early evolution: various generations of stars formed in different bursts (a few Myr or less apart) inside different nearby sub-clusters, which may have been triggered by a previous nearby episode. Tidal interactions between the Clouds and the Milky Way can cause dramatic changes in the formation history of field stars and clusters: can we link the eMSTO phenomenon with the larger 'environment' and ' field' star formation history of the MCs? Is there any connection with the existence of multiple populations in Galactic GCs (hence with the assembly of the Galactic halo)? Finally, can we extend these properties to other irregular galaxies?

The ambitious goal of our proposed EWASS Symposium is to address these important questions, gathering the major experts on this topic to discuss the new observational findings in the light of state-of-the-art models, providing new possible scenarios for the interpretation of the observational data.

Programme

• The census of star clusters in MCs and their star formation history
• The ongoing star formation history of MCs
• The discovery of multiple populations in young and intermediate-age MCs star clusters
• Different scenarios for the formation and evolution of multiple populations in the light of new static and rotating stellar evolutionary models
• Link with the phenomenon of multiple populations in old Galactic and MCs GCs

Invited speakers

• N. Bastian (Liverpool J. Moore University)
• K. Bekki (ICRAR)
• M. R. Cioni (AIP)
• G. De Marchi (ESTEC)
• F. D'Antona (INAF)
• L. Girardi (INAF)
• P. Goudfrooij (STScI)
• E. Grebel (Heidelberg University)
• A. F. Marino (Australian National University)
• G. Maynet (University of Geneva)
• A. Piatti (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba)
• G. Piotto (University of Padova)
• E. Sabbi (STScI)
• R.Jaffries (Keele University)
• E. Vesperini (Indiana University)

Scientific organisers

• Michele Cignoni (Università degli Studi di Pisa)
• Marcella Di Criscienzo (INAF)
• Antonino Milone (RSAA, Australian National University)

Contact
dicrisci @ gmail.com