A survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud

We propose to reobserve a part of our virgul10 square degree survey of the LMC toreach our original aim of a limiting point source luminosity of 2 x 10^33 erg/s.Its proximity makes the LMC the ultimate target for obtaining a completeinventory of SNRs, Xray binaries and SSSs, and to study the diffuse emission ofthe hot ISM. Most importantly, the high throughput of XMMNewton will allow usto perform detailed spectral and temporal analyses of a large fraction ofsources. Together with the existing EPIC data, our observations will create aunique data set to study the starformation history and its implications on themorphology of the ISM in the LMC. In combination with the existing surveys ofthe SMC, M31 and M33 this will yield important clues for the evolution of the Local Group. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]