ANALYSIS OF THE UV SPECTRA OF YOUNG CLUSTERS OF THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD

UV and visual spectral energy distributions of young generations have been synthesized from evolutionary tracks in the HR diagram and model atmospheres. The influence of several parameters has also been analyzed. Their UV portions have been checked with UV spectra of 24 clusters of the Large Magellanic Cloud obtained by Cassatella et al. [ApJS, 64, 83 (1987)]. The models generally agree well with the observations and allows us to derive ages for various assumed abundances. Ages thus derived have been compared, in an age-age diagram, with those obtained from the integrated UBV photometry. While there are no systematic differences between these two age determinations, a fraction of clusters displays a large scatter, larger than what is expected from the observational errors alone. Possible causes for this scatter are briefly analyzed.