AKARI-LMC Near-infrared Spectroscopic Catalog

It is shown that 97% of the catalog sources have corresponding photometric data in the wavelength range from 1.2 to 11{mu}m, and 67% of the sources also have photometric data up to 24{mu}m. The catalog allows us to investigate near-infrared spectral features of sources by comparison with their infrared spectral energy distributions. In addition, it is estimated that about 10% of the catalog sources are observed at more than two different epochs.

This enables us to study a spectroscopic variability of sources by using the present catalog. Initial results of source classifications for the LSLMC samples are presented. We classified 659 LSLMC spectra based on their near-infrared spectral features by visual inspection.

As a result, it is shown that the present catalog includes 7 YSOs, 160 C-rich AGBs, 8 C-rich AGB candidates, 85 O-rich AGBs, 122 blue and yellow supergiants, 150 red super giants, and 128 unclassified sources. Distributions of the classified sources on the color-color and color-magnitude diagrams are discussed in the text. Continuous wavelength coverage and high spectroscopic sensitivity in 2-5{mu}m can only be achieved by space observations.

This is an unprecedented large-scale spectroscopic survey toward the LMC in the near-infrared. A large number of near-infrared spectral data provided by the survey possess scientific potential that can be applied to various studies. In this paper, we present the details of the spectroscopic survey and the catalog, and discuss its scientific applications.