Abstract
We study the star cluster population of NGC 2997, a giant spiral galaxy
located at 9.5 Mpc and targeted by the Snapshot Hubble U-band Cluster Survey
(SHUCS). Combining our U-band imaging from SHUCS with archival BVI imaging from
HST, we select a high confidence sample of clusters in the circumnuclear ring
and disk through a combination of automatic detection procedures and visual
inspection. The cluster luminosity functions in all four filters can be
approximated by power-laws with indices of $-1.7$ to $-2.3$. Some deviations
from pure power-law shape are observed, hinting at the presence of a high-mass
truncation in the cluster mass function. However, upon inspection of the
cluster mass function, we find it is consistent with a pure power-law of index
$-2.2\pm0.2$ despite a slight bend at $\sim$$2.5\times10^4$ M$_ødot$. No
statistically significant truncation is observed. From the cluster age
distributions, we find a low rate of disruption ($\zeta\sim-0.1$) in both the
disk and circumnuclear ring. Finally, we estimate the cluster formation
efficiency ($\Gamma$) over the last 100 Myr in each region, finding $7\pm2$%
for the disk, $12\pm4$% for the circumnuclear ring, and $10\pm3$% for the
entire UBVI footprint. This study highlights the need for wide-field UBVI
coverage of galaxies to study cluster populations in detail, though a small
sample of clusters can provide significant insight into the characteristics of
the population.
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