| Abstract [eng] |
Most stars form in star clusters, making them excellent tracers of the formation and evolution of galactic discs. Aperture photometry is an efficient method for studying large samples of extragalactic clusters across broad ranges of mass, age, and environment. However, its practical limitations, particularly those caused by stochasticity of the star and cluster mass functions and crowdedness of the galaxy discs, remain poorly understood. The thesis investigates these issues using realistic stochastic cluster models and mock observations reproducing PHAT survey conditions for the Andromeda (M31). We estimate, that in typical M31 disc environments, reliable physical parameters can be determined for clusters more massive than: 1600 solar masses at 1 Gyr; and more massive than 500 solar masses at 100 Myr. The M31 cluster mass function at 1 Gyr can be recovered down to: ~500 solar masses in the outer disc; ~1500 in star-forming regions; and ~3000 in the inner disc. We also explore the structural evolution of young M31 star clusters and find that they expand by over a factor of two within first 30 Myr. Clusters older than 100 Myr show a weak mass–radius relation with no dependence on galactocentric distance. |
