Properties of the cluster population of NGC 1566 and their implications
  We present results of a photometric study into the cluster population of NGC
1566, a nearby grand design spiral galaxy, sampled out to a Galactocentric
radius of $\approx 5.5$ kpc. The shape of the mass-limited age distribution
shows negligible variation with radial distance from the centre of the galaxy,
and demonstrates three separate sections, with a steep beginning, flat middle
and steep end. The luminosity function can be approximated by a power law at
lower luminosities with evidence of a truncation at higher luminosity. The
power law section of the luminosity function of the galaxy is best fitted by an
index $\approx -2$, in agreement with other studies, and is found to agree with
a model luminosity function, which uses an underlying Schechter mass function.
The recovered power law slope of the mass distribution shows a slight
steepening as a function of galactocentric distance, but this is within error
estimates. It also displays a possible truncation at the high mass end.
Additionally, the cluster formation efficiency ($\Gamma$) and the specific
U-band luminosity of clusters ($T_L(U)$) are calculated for NGC 1566 and are
consistent with values for similar galaxies. A difference in NGC 1566, however,
is that the fairly high star formation rate is in contrast with a low
$\Sigma_{SFR}$ and $\Gamma$, indicating that $\Gamma$ can only be said to
depend strongly on $\Sigma_{SFR}$, not the star formation rate.
