The first of its kind metallicity map of the Large Magellanic Cloud

We have estimated a metallicity map of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using the Magellanic Cloud Photometric Survey (MCPS) and Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE III) photometric data. This is a first of its kind, high-spatial resolution map of metallicity up to a radius of $4^{\circ}-5^{\circ}$, derived using large area photometric data and calibrated using spectroscopic data of Red Giant Branch (RGB) stars. The RGB is identified in the V, (V - I) colour- magnitude diagrams of small subregions of varying sizes in both data sets. The slope of the RGB is used as an indicator of the mean metallicity of a subregion, and it is calibrated to metallicity using spectroscopic data for field and cluster red giants in selected subregions. The mean metallicity of the LMC is found to be [Fe/H] = -0.37 dex (${\sigma}[Fe/H]=0.12$) from MCPS data, and [Fe/H] = -0.39 dex (${\sigma}[Fe/H]=0.10$) from OGLE III data. The bar is found to have an uniform and higher metallicity compared to the disk, and is indicative of an active bar in the past. Both the data sets suggest a shallow radial metallicity gradient up to a radius of 4 kpc ($-0.049{\pm}0.002$ dex kpc-1 to $-0.066{\pm}0.006$ dex kpc-1). This metallicity gradient of the LMC disk, though shallow, resembles the gradient seen in spiral galaxies, and similar to that found in our Galaxy.