Low Surface Brightness Imaging of the Magellanic System: Imprints of Tidal Interactions between the Clouds in the Stellar Periphery

Understand

We present deep optical images of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) using a low cost telephoto lens with a wide field of view to explore stellar substructure in the outskirts of the stellar disk of the LMC (r < 10 degrees from the center).

• These data have higher resolution than existing star count maps, and highlight the existence of stellar arcs and multiple spiral arms in the northern periphery, with no comparable counterparts in the South.
• We compare these data to detailed simulations of the LMC disk outskirts, following interactions with its low mass companion, the SMC.
• We consider interaction in isolation and with the inclusion of the Milky Way tidal field.