The Snapshot Hubble U-Band Cluster Survey (SHUCS). I. Survey Description
  and First Application to the Mixed Star Cluster Population of NGC 4041
  We present the Snapshot Hubble U-band Cluster Survey (SHUCS), a project aimed
at characterizing the star cluster populations of ten nearby galaxies (d<23
Mpc, half within 12 Mpc) through new F336W (U band equivalent) imaging from
WFC3, and archival BVI-equivalent data with HST. Completing the UBVI baseline
reduces the age-extinction degeneracy of optical colours, thus enabling the
measurement of reliable ages and masses for the thousands of clusters covered
by our survey. The sample consists chiefly of face-on spiral galaxies at low
inclination, in various degrees of isolation (isolated, in group, merging), and
includes two AGN hosts. This first paper outlines the survey itself, the
observational datasets, the analysis methods, and presents a proof-of-concept
study of the large-scale properties and star cluster population of NGC 4041, a
massive SAbc galaxy at a distance of 23 Mpc, and part of a small grouping of
six giant members. We resolve two structural components with distinct stellar
populations, a morphology more akin to merging and interacting systems. We also
find strong evidence of a truncated, Schechter-type mass function, and a
similarly segmented luminosity function. These results indicate that binning
must erase much of the substructure present in the mass and luminosity
functions, and might account for the conflicting reports on the intrinsic shape
of these functions in the literature. We also note a tidal feature in the
outskirts of the galaxy in GALEX UV imaging, and follow it up with a
comprehensive multi-wavelength study of NGC 4041 and its parent group. We
deduce a minor merger as a likely cause of its segmented structure and the
observed pattern of a radially decreasing star formation rate. We propose that
combining the study of star cluster populations with broad-band metrics is not
only advantageous, but often easily achievable through archival datasets.
