Context. The new VISual and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has started operations. Over its first five years it will be collecting data for six public surveys, one of which is the near-infrared Y JK s VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC). This survey comprises the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the Small Magellanic Cloud, the Magellanic Bridge connecting the two galaxies and two fields in the Magellanic Stream. Aims. This paper provides an overview of the VMC survey strategy and presents first science results. The main goals of the VMC survey are the determination of the spatially-resolved star-formation history and the three-dimensional structure of the Magellanic system. The VMC survey is therefore designed to reach stars as faint as the oldest main sequence turn-off point and to constrain the mean magnitude of pulsating variables such as RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids. This paper focuses on observations of VMC fields in the LMC obtained between November 2009 and March 2010. These observations correspond to a completeness of 7% of the planned LMC fields. Methods. The VMC data are comprised of multi-epoch observations which are executed following specific time constraints. The data were reduced using the VISTA Data Flow System pipeline with source catalogues, including astrometric and photometric corrections, produced and made available via the VISTA Science Archive. The VMC data will be released to the astronomical community following the European Southern Observatory's Public Survey policy. The analysis of the data shows that the sensitivity in each wave band agrees with expectations. Uncertainties and completeness of the data are also derived. Results. The first science results, aimed at assessing the scientific quality of the VMC data, include an overview of the distribution of stars in colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams, the detection of planetary nebulae and stellar clusters, and the K s band light-curves of variable stars. Conclusions. The VMC survey represents a tremendous improvement, in spatial resolution and sensitivity, on previous panoramic observations of the Magellanic system in the near-infrared, providing a powerful complement to deep observations at other wavelengths.

As part of a reanalysis of galactic Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars at infrared (IR) wavelengths, we discuss a sample (357) of carbon stars for which mass loss rates, near-IR photometry and distance estimates exist. For 252 sources we collected mid-IR fluxes from the MSX (6C) and the ISO-SWS catalogues. Most stars have spectral energy distributions up to 21 µm, and some (1/3) up to 45 µm. This wide wavelength coverage allows us to obtain reliable bolometric magnitudes. The properties of our sample are discussed with emphasis on ∼70 stars with astrometric distances. We show that mid-IR fluxes are crucial to estimate the magnitude of stars with dusty envelopes. We construct HR diagrams and show that the luminosities agree fairly well with model predictions based on the Schwarzschild's criterion, contrary to what is widely argued in the literature. A problem with the brightness of C stars does not appear to exist. From the relative number of Mira and Semiregular C-variables, we argue that the switch between these classes is unlikely to be connected to thermal pulses. The relevance of the two populations varies with the evolution, with Miras dominating the final stages. We also analyze mass loss rates, which increase for increasing luminosity, but with a spread that probably results from a dependence on a number of parameters (like e.g. different stellar masses and different mechanisms powering stellar winds). Instead, mass loss rates are well monitored by IR colours, especially if extended to 20 µm and beyond, where AGB envelopes behave like black bodies. From these colours the evolutionary status of various classes of C stars is discussed.

Context. Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are major contributors to both the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium and the integrated light of galaxies. Despite its importance, the AGB is one of the least understood phases of stellar evolution. The main difficulties associated with detailed modelling of the AGB are related to the mass-loss process and the 3rd dredge-up efficiency Aims. We provide direct measures of mass-loss rates and luminosities for a complete sample of AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, disentangling the C-and O-rich stellar populations. Methods. Dust radiative transfer models are presented for all 374 AGB stars candidates in one of the fields observed by the new VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds (VMC). Mass-loss rates, luminosities and a classification of C-and O-rich stars are derived by fitting the models to the spectral energy distribution (SED) obtained by combining VMC data with existing optical, near-, and mid-infrared photometry. Results. The classification technique is reliable at a level of -at worst -75% and significantly better for the reddest dusty stars. We classified none of the stars with a relevant mass-loss rate as O-rich, and we can exclude the presence of more than one dusty O-rich star at a ∼94% level. The bolometric luminosity function we obtained is fully consistent with most of the literature data on the LMC and with the prediction of theoretical models, with a peak of the C-star distribution at M bol −4.8 mag and no stars brighter than the classical AGB tip, at M bol = −7.1 mag.Conclusions. This exploratory study shows that our method provides reliable mass-loss rates, luminosities and chemical classifications for all AGB stars. These results offer already important constraints to AGB evolutionary models. Most of our conclusions, especially for the rarer dust-enshrouded extreme AGB stars, are however strongly limited by the relatively small area covered by our study. Forthcoming VMC observations will easily remove this limitation.

The VMC survey is obtaining multi-epoch photometry in the K s band of the Magellanic System down to a limiting magnitude of K s ∼ 19.3 for individual epoch data. The observations are spaced in time such as to provide optimal sampling of the light curves for RR Lyrae stars and for Cepheids with periods up to 20-30 days. We present examples of the K s -band light curves of Classical Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars we are obtaining from the VMC data and outline the strategy we put in place to measure distances and infer the System three-dimensional geometry from the variable stars. For this purpose the near-infrared Period-Luminosity, Period-Wesenheit, and Period-Luminosity-Colour relations of the system RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids are used. We extensively exploit the catalogues of the Magellanic Clouds' variable stars provided by the EROS-2 and OGLE III/IV microlensing surveys. By combining these surveys we present the currently widest-area view of the Large Magellanic Cloud as captured by the galaxy Cepheids, RR Lyrae stars and binaries. This reveals the full extent of the main structures (bar/s -spiral arms) that have only been vaguely guessed before. Our work strengthens the case for a detailed study of the Large Magellanic Cloud three-dimensional geometry.

Context. Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phases mark the end of the evolution for low-and intermediate-mass stars. Our understanding of the mechanisms through which they eject the envelope and our assessment of their contribution to the mass return to the interstellar medium and to the chemical evolution of Galaxies are hampered by poor knowledge of their luminosities and mass loss rates, both for C-rich and for O-rich sources. Aims. We plan to establish criteria permitting a more quantitative determination of luminosities (and subsequently of mass loss rates) for the various types of AGB stars on the basis of infrared fluxes. In this paper, in particular, we concentrate on O-rich and s-elementrich MS, S stars and include a small sample of SC stars. Methods. We reanalyze the absolute bolometric magnitudes and colors of MS, S, SC stars on the basis of a sample of intrinsic (single) and extrinsic (binary) long period variables. We derive bolometric corrections as a function of near-and mid-infrared colors, adopting as references a group of stars for which the spectral energy distribution could be reconstructed in detail over a large wavelength range. We determine the absolute HR diagrams, and compare luminosities and colors of S-type giants with those, previously derived, of C-rich AGB stars. Luminosity estimates are also verified on the basis of existing period-luminosity relations valid for O-rich Miras. Results. S star bolometric luminosities are almost indistinguishable from those of C-rich AGB stars. On the contrary, their circumstellar envelopes are thinner and less opaque. Despite this last property the IR wavelengths remain dominant, with the bluest stars having their maximum emission in the H or K(short) bands. Near-to-mid infrared color differences are in any case smaller than for C stars. Based on period-luminosity relations for O-rich Miras and on Magnitude-color relations for the same variables we show how approximate distances (hence intrinsic parameters) for sources of so far unknown parallax can be inferred. We argue that most of the sources have a rather small mass (<2 M ); dredge-up might then be not effective enough to let the C/O ratio exceed unity.