Abstract
The distributions of stellar clusters in 10 nearby, grand-design spiral galaxies were studied using deep JHK-maps from HAWK-I/VLT. The properties of the cluster complexes were analyzed using (H-K)–(J-H) diagrams. Two groups of clusters can be identified where the main one is associated to old clusters with low extinction while the other, less populated, consists of very young clusters (i.e. < 10 Myr) with an average reddening around \( \text{A}_{\text{V}} \sim \) 7m. The (J-K)–MK diagrams show two branches of clusters populated by old and young clusters, respectively. The gap between them suggests a rapid reduction of extinction in the clusters at an early evolutionary phase. Statistical tests, taking the sample sizes into account, show that the cluster distribution functions (CDF) are different in arm and inter-arm regions, for strong spiral perturbations, with the former being shifted to brighter magnitudes by at least 0.4m. Also the star formation rates in the strong arms were found to be 2–5 times higher than those in the inter-arm regions.
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