The VISCACHA survey -- III. Star clusters counterpart of the Magellanic
  Bridge and Counter-Bridge in 8D
  Context. The interactions between the SMC and LMC created the Magellanic
Bridge, a stream of gas and stars pulled out of the SMC towards the LMC about
150 Myr ago. The tidal counterpart of this structure, which should include a
trailing arm, has been predicted by models but no compelling observational
evidence has confirmed the Counter-Bridge so far. Aims. The main goal of this
work is to find the stellar counterpart of the Magellanic Bridge and
Counter-Bridge. We use star clusters in the SMC outskirts as they provide 6D
phase-space vector, age and metallicity that help characterise the outskirts of
the SMC. Methods. Distances, ages and photometric metallicities are derived
from fitting isochrones to the colour-magnitude diagrams from the VISCACHA
survey. Radial velocities and spectroscopic metallicities are derived from the
spectroscopic follow-up using GMOS in the CaII triplet region. Results. Among
the seven clusters analysed in this work, five belong to the Magellanic Bridge
and one belongs to the Counter-Bridge and the other to the transition region.
Conclusions. The existence of the tidal counterpart of the Magellanic Bridge is
evidenced by star clusters. The stellar component of the Magellanic Bridge and
Counter-Bridge are confirmed in the SMC outskirts. These results are an
important constraint for models that seek to reconstruct the history of the
orbit and interactions between LMC-SMC and constrain their future interaction
including with the Milky Way.
