Physical properties of star clusters in the outer LMC as observed by the
  Dark Energy Survey
  The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) harbors a rich and diverse system of star
clusters, whose ages, chemical abundances, and positions provide information
about the LMC history of star formation. We use Science Verification imaging
data from the Dark Energy Survey to increase the census of known star clusters
in the outer LMC and to derive physical parameters for a large sample of such
objects using a spatially and photometrically homogeneous data set. Our sample
contains 255 visually identified cluster candidates, of which 109 were not
listed in any previous catalog. We quantify the crowding effect for the stellar
sample produced by the DES Data Management pipeline and conclude that the
stellar completeness is < 10% inside typical LMC cluster cores. We therefore
develop a pipeline to sample and measure stellar magnitudes and positions
around the cluster candidates using DAOPHOT. We also implement a
maximum-likelihood method to fit individual density profiles and
colour-magnitude diagrams. For 117 (from a total of 255) of the cluster
candidates (28 uncatalogued clusters), we obtain reliable ages, metallicities,
distance moduli and structural parameters, confirming their nature as physical
systems. The distribution of cluster metallicities shows a radial dependence,
with no clusters more metal-rich than [Fe/H] ~ -0.7 beyond 8 kpc from the LMC
center. The age distribution has two peaks at ~ 1.2 Gyr and ~ 2.7 Gyr.
