Astrophysical properties of star clusters projected toward tidally perturbed SMC regions

We report on the astrophysical properties of a sample of star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We aimed to investigating the connection between the ages, heliocentric distances and metallicities of the selected star clusters with the existence of tidally perturbed or induced outermost SMC regions. We derived the star cluster fundamental parameters from relatively deep Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History (SMASH) color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), cleaned from field star contamination, and compared them with a thousand synthetic CMDs covering a wide range of heliocentric distances, ages, and metal content. Heliocentric distances for 15 star clusters are derived for the first time, which represents an increase of ~50% of SMC clusters with estimated heliocentric distances. Analysis of the age-metallicity relationships (AMRs) of clusters located in the outermost regions distributed around the SMC and in the SMC Main Body reveals that they have followed the overall chemical enrichment history of the galaxy. However, since half of the studied clusters are situated in front of or behind the SMC Main Body, we concluded that they formed in the SMC and have traveled outward because of tidal effects from the interaction with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Furthermore, metal-rich clusters formed recently in some of these outermost regions from gas that was also dragged by tidal effects from the inner SMC. These findings lead to the SMC being considered as a galaxy scarred by the LMC tidal interaction with distance-perturbed and newly induced outermost stellar substructures.