Disk Of M31 Research Articles

Reassessing the proper motions of M31/M33 with Gaia DR3. Unravelling systematic uncertainties

We provide an updated inference of the proper motion of M31 using the Gaia DR3 proper motions of bright stars from the disc of M31. By refining the motion of the quasar reference frame, and statistically accounting for the variations in the inferred proper motions obtained across different regions of M31, we demonstrate that these inconsistencies most likely arise from systematic uncertainties. Our updated favoured values for the proper motion of M31 are $46.9 stat sys in the right ascension direction and $-29.1 stat sys in the declination direction, the systematics being determined at a 90<!PCT!> confidence level (the values for M33 are given in the paper). This clearly highlights that the systematics are the dominant source of uncertainty, their magnitudes being comparable to the proper motion of M31 itself. The analysis conducted using Gaia DR2 instead of DR3 revealed that a net reduction in these systematic uncertainties occurred between the two data releases. If similar progress is made with the upcoming DR4, the future Gaia -based estimates could match the uncertainty level of HST, and could be used to refine the dynamics and history of M31 and M33.

A NuSTAR Census of the X-Ray Binary Population of the M31 Disk

Using hard (E > 10 keV) X-ray observations with NuSTAR, we are able to differentiate between the accretion states, and thus compact object types, of neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs) in X-ray binaries (XRBs) in M31, our nearest Milky Way–type neighbor. Using 10 moderate-depth (20–50 ks) observations of the disk of M31 covering a total of ∼0.45 deg2, we detect 20 sources at 2σ in the 4–25 keV bandpass, 14 of which we consider to be XRB candidates. This complements an existing, deeper (100–400 ks) survey covering ∼0.2 deg2 of the bulge and the northeastern disk. We make tentative classifications of nine of these sources with the use of diagnostic color–intensity and color–color diagrams, which separate sources into various NS and BH regimes, identifying three BHs and six NSs. In addition, we create X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) for both the full (4–25 keV) and hard (12–25 keV) bands, as well as subpopulations of the full band based on compact object type and association with globular clusters. Our best-fit globular cluster XLF is shallower than the field XLF, and preliminary BH and NS XLFs suggest a difference in shape based on compact object type. We find that the cumulative disk XLFs in the full and hard band are best fit by power laws with indices of 1.32 and 1.28, respectively. This is consistent with models of the Milky Way XLF from Grimm et al., Voss & Ajello, and Doroshenko et al.

Subaru Suprime-Cam Wide-field BVI Stellar Photometry of the M33 Galaxy

We have surveyed the complete extent of the disk of M33—a gas-rich low-mass dwarf spiral galaxy in the Local Group. The B-, V-, and I-passband (the Johnson–Cousins system) CCD images (typical seeing ∼0.″8) were obtained with the Subaru Telescope equipped with the Suprime-Cam mosaic camera. The wide-field (∼1.°0 × 1.°5) catalog of 803,095 (15 ≤ V ≤ 25) starlike objects, measured using the point-spread function and aperture photometry techniques, is presented. We determined the distance modulus of M33 using the tip of the red giant branch (I TRGB = 20.64 ± 0.02) as a reference point of (m − M)0 = 24.63 ± 0.02stat ± 0.06syst (843 kpc). We found young (≲100 Myr) stellar populations residing up to the deprojected radius of ∼10 kpc. The scale length of the young main-sequence (MS) star surface-number density in the range of radial distances from 7 to 9 kpc is 0.53 ± 0.03 kpc. The youngest MS stars (≲15 Myr) reside up to the radius of ∼8 kpc. This distribution of stellar populations may suggest an outside-in scenario of recent star formation in the disk of M33.

Non-thermal emission in M31 and M33

Context.Spiral galaxies M31 and M33 are among theγ-ray sources detected by theFermiLarge Area Telescope (LAT).Aims.We aim to model the broadband non-thermal emission of the central region of M31 (a LAT point source) and of the disk of M33 (a LAT extended source), as part of our continued survey of non-thermal properties of local galaxies that includes the Magellanic Clouds.Methods.We analysed the observed emission from the central region of M31 (R < 5.5 kpc) and the disk-sized emission from M33 (R ∼ 9 kpc). For each galaxy, we self-consistently modelled the broadband spectral energy distribution of the diffuse non-thermal emission based on published radio andγ-ray data. All relevant radiative processes involving relativistic and thermal electrons (synchrotron, Compton scattering, bremsstrahlung, and free–free emission and absorption), along with relativistic protons (π0decay following interaction with thermal protons), were considered, using exact emissivity formulae. We also used theFermi-LAT-validatedγ-ray emissivities for pulsars.Results.Joint spectral analyses of the emission from the central region of M31 and the extended disk of M33 indicate that the radio emission is composed of both primary and secondary electron synchrotron and thermal bremsstrahlung, whereas theγ-ray emission may be explained as a combination of diffuse pionic, pulsar, and nuclear-BH-related emissions in M31 and plain diffuse pionic emission (with an average proton energy density of 0.5 eV cm−3) in M33.Conclusions.The observedγ-ray emission from M33 appears to be mainly hadronic. This situation is similar to other local galaxies, namely, the Magellanic Clouds. In contrast, we have found suggestions of a more complex situation in the central region of M31, whose emission could be an admixture of pulsar emission and hadronic emission, with the latter possibly originating from both the disk and the vicinity of the nuclear black hole. The alternative modelling of the spectra of M31 and M33 is motivated by the different hydrogen distribution in the two galaxies: The hydrogen deficiency in the central region of M31 partially unveils emissions from the nuclear BH and the pulsar population in the bulge and inner disk. If this were to be the case in M33 as well, these emissions would be outshined by diffuse pionic emission originating within the flat central-peak gas distribution in M33.

Young Metal-Rich Stars in the Halo of M82: a tidal dwarf galaxy?

Abstract We present Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys photometry of an arc structure of stars in the southern halo of M82. The structure is located at a projected height of ≈5 kpc from the disk of M82 but its stellar content exhibits a younger mean age than that of typical halo stars. We measured the distance, mean age, and peak metallicity of the stars in the arc and used them to determine the structure’s origin. The arc color-magnitude diagram yields a tip of red giant branch (RGB) distance of 3.63 ± 0.08 Mpc, similar to that of M82, confirming its association with the galaxy. The color-magnitude diagram also reveals a population of predominantly young stars with a mean age of ≈100 - 160 Myr, which is similar to that of the young stars formed in the tidal debris between M81, M82, and NGC 3077. We derived the mean metallicity of the halo stars surrounding the arc to be [Fe/H] ≈ -1.0, similar to that of the RGB population of the halo of M81. The RGB stars in the arc, while they are slightly more metal-rich than the halo RGB, show no spatial correlation with the young stars, suggesting that the arc is consist of mainly young stellar population. Furthermore, the observed age gradient along the structure of the arc indicates that the arc began forming from the closer side to M82, then moving outward. Taken together, the results suggest that the formation of the young stars which gives rise to the arc structure could have been triggered by the interactions between M82’s southern outflow and the HI gas clouds surrounding it, representing a snapshot of a tidal dwarf galaxy in the process of forming.

Morphology and Kinematics of the Gas in M51: How Interaction with NGC 5195 Has Molded the Structure of Its Arms

The Whirlpool Galaxy is a well-studied grand design galaxy with two major spiral arms, and a large satellite NGC 5195. The arms both show long uniform sections with perturbations (“kinks” or sharp turns) in specific regions. Comparing the two arms shows a small radial offset between the main kinked regions. We analyzed the morphology and also the velocity field in the disk of M51 using kinematic maps based on Hα and CO line emission. These sample complementary radial ranges, with the CO map covering the central zone and the Hα map extending to cover the outer zone. We looked for indicators of density wave resonance, zones where radial flows of gas in the disk plane reverse their sign. These were present in both velocity maps; their 2D localization placed them along or closely parallel to the spiral arms, at a set of well-defined galactocentric radii, and notably more concentrated along the southern, stronger arm. The results can be well interpreted quantitatively, using a numerical model of the interaction of M51 and NGC 5195 in which the satellite has made two relatively recent passes through the disk plane of M51. During the first pass the pair of dominant spiral arms was stimulated, and during the second pass the strong kinks in both arms were formed at about the same time. The second interaction is particularly well characterized, because the timescale corresponding to the production of the kinks and the recovery of the original pitch angle is identical for the two arms.

Measuring M31 globular cluster ages and metallicities using both photometry and spectroscopy

ABSTRACT The ages and metallicities of globular clusters play an important role not just in testing models for their formation and evolution but also in understanding the assembly history of their host galaxies. Here, we use a combination of imaging and spectroscopy to measure the ages and metallicities of globular clusters in M31, the closest massive galaxy to our own. We use the strength of the near-infrared calcium triplet spectral feature to provide a relatively age-insensitive prior on the metallicity when fitting stellar population models to the observed photometry. While the age–extinction degeneracy is an issue for globular clusters projected on to the disc of M31, we find generally old ages for globular clusters in the halo of M31 and in its satellite galaxy NGC 205 in line with previous studies. We measure ages for a number of outer halo globular clusters for the first time, finding that globular clusters associated with halo substructure extend to younger ages and higher metallicities than those associated with the smooth halo. This is in line with the expectation that the smooth halo was accreted earlier than the substructured halo.

The rotation curve and mass distribution of M31

ABSTRACT To gain a better understanding of the Andromeda galaxy M31 and its role in the Local Group, measuring its mass precisely is essential. In this work, we have constructed the rotation curve of M31 out to ∼125 kpc using 13 679 M31 objects obtained from various sources, including the LAMOST data release 9 (LAMOST DR9), the DESI survey, and relevant literature. We divide all objects in our sample into bulge, disc, and halo components. For the sources in the M31 disc, we have measured their circular velocities by a kinematic model with asymmetric drift corrections. For the bulge and halo objects, we calculate their velocity dispersions and use the spherical and projected Jeans equation to obtain the circular velocities. Our findings indicate a nearly isotropic nature for the M31 bulge, while the halo exhibits tangential anisotropy. The results show that the rotation curve remains constant at ∼220 km s−1 up to radius ∼25 kpc and gradually decreases to ∼170 km s−1 further out. Based on the newly determined rotation curve, we have constructed a mass distribution model for M31. Our measurement of the M31 virial mass is $M_{\rm vir} = 1.14^{+0.51}_{-0.35} \times 10^{12} M_\odot$ within rvir = 220 ± 25 kpc.

C ii] Spectral Mapping of the Galactic Wind and Starbursting Disk of M82 with SOFIA

M82 is an archetypal starburst galaxy in the local Universe. The central burst of star formation, thought to be triggered by M82's interaction with other members in the M81 group, is driving a multiphase galaxy-scale wind away from the plane of the disk that has been studied across the electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we present new velocity-resolved observations of the [C ii] 158 μm line in the central disk and the southern outflow of M82 using the upGREAT instrument on board SOFIA. We also report the first detections of velocity-resolved (ΔV = 10 km s−1) [C ii] emission in the outflow of M82 at projected distances of ≈1–2 kpc south of the galaxy center. We compare the [C ii] line profiles to observations of CO and H i and find that likely the majority (>55%) of the [C ii] emission in the outflow is associated with the neutral atomic medium. We find that the fraction of [C ii] actually outflowing from M82 is small compared to the bulk gas outside the midplane (which may be in a halo or tidal streamers), which has important implications for observations of [C ii] outflows at higher redshift. Finally, by comparing the observed ratio of the [C ii] and CO intensities to models of photodissociation regions, we estimate that the far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field in the disk is ∼103.5 G 0, in agreement with previous estimates. In the outflow, however, the FUV radiation field is 2–3 orders of magnitudes lower, which may explain the high fraction of [C ii] arising from the neutral medium in the wind.

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER). V. The Structure of M33 in Resolved Stellar Populations

We present a detailed analysis of the structure of the Local Group flocculent spiral galaxy M33, as measured using the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) survey. Leveraging the multiwavelength coverage of PHATTER, we find that the oldest populations are dominated by a smooth exponential disk with two distinct spiral arms and a classical central bar—completely distinct from what is seen in broadband optical imaging, and the first-ever confirmation of a bar in M33. We estimate a bar extent of ∼1 kpc. The two spiral arms are asymmetric in orientation and strength, and likely represent the innermost impact of the recent tidal interaction responsible for M33's warp at larger scales. The flocculent multiarmed morphology for which M33 is known is only visible in the young upper main-sequence population, which closely tracks the morphology of the interstellar medium. We investigate the stability of M33's disk, finding Q ∼ 1 over the majority of the disk. We fit multiple components to the old stellar density distribution and find that, when considering recent stellar kinematics, M33's bulk structure favors the inclusion of an accreted halo component, modeled as a broken power law. The best-fit halo has an outer power-law index of −3 and accurately describes observational evidence of M33's stellar halo from both resolved stellar spectroscopy in the disk and its stellar populations at large radius. Integrating this profile yields a total halo stellar mass of ∼5 × 108 M ⊙, for a stellar halo mass fraction of 16%, most of which resides in the innermost 2.5 kpc.

Morphological Decomposition of the Early-type Spiral Galaxy M81 (NGC 3031)

This paper presents a morphological investigation of the early-type spiral galaxy M81 (NGC 3031) through decomposition by fitting radial profiles of surface brightness using the software GALFIT, aimed at exploring structural components of M81 and quantifying their morphology. In this work, we adopt 6 types of decompositions with different numbers of morphological components, among which the most complicated one contains 5 components such as a bulge, a disk, a pair of outer spiral arms, a pair of inner spiral arms, and a galactic nucleus. The results show that, M81 hosts a classical bulge with the Sérsic index ∼ 5.0; the morphology and the luminosity for the bulge are almost constant in the different decomposition types. The disk of M81 has the Sérsic index ∼ 1.2 but the morphology and the luminosity are found sensitive to the inclusion of the inner spiral arms in the decomposition or not. The results of this work indicate that the combination of individual substructures has a considerable impact on the morphology of the galaxy as a mixture. On the basis of the results, the usability of the different types of decomposition is suggested in this work. The three-component decomposition, i.e., bulge + disk + nucleus, is applicable to statistics of large samples of galaxies; more complicated decomposition with spiral arms taken into account is suitable for precise measurements of individual galaxies in small samples. This work is based on the single-band Spitzer-The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) 4.5 μm image. In the future, we will carry out multi-wavelength decomposition, for the purpose of investigating spectral energy distributions and stellar population properties for the galactic substructures, and thereby deduce their formation history and evolution processes.

An XMM-Newton View of the Andromeda Galaxy as Explored in a Legacy Survey (New-ANGELS). I. The X-Ray Source Catalog

We introduce the New-ANGELS program, an XMM-Newton survey of a ∼7.2 deg2 area around M31, which aims to study the X-ray populations in the M31 disk and the X-ray-emitting hot gas in the inner halo of M31 up to 30 kpc. In this first paper, we report the catalog of 4506 detected X-ray sources and attempt to cross-identify or roughly classify them. We identify 352 single stars in the foreground, 35 globular clusters, and 27 supernova remnants associated with M31, as well as 62 active galactic nuclei, 59 galaxies, and one galaxy cluster in the background. We uniquely classify 236 foreground stars and 17 supersoft sources based on their X-ray colors. X-ray binaries (83 low-mass and one high-mass) are classified based on their X-ray colors and X-ray variabilities. The remaining X-ray sources either have too low signal-to-noise ratios to calculate their X-ray colors or do not have a unique classification, so are regarded as unclassified. The X-ray source catalog is published online. Studies of the X-ray source populations and the contribution of X-ray sources in the unresolved X-ray emissions based on this catalog will be published in companion papers.

Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the compact elliptical galaxy M32 reveals a dearth of carbon stars

ABSTRACT We present new Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field Camera 3/infrared medium-band photometry of the compact elliptical galaxy M32, chemically resolving its thermally pulsating asymptotic giant branch stars. We find 2829 M-type stars and 57 C stars. The carbon stars are likely contaminants from M31. If carbon stars are present in M32 they are so in very low numbers. The uncorrected C/M ratio is 0.020 ± 0.003; this drops to less than 0.007 after taking into account contamination from M31. As the mean metallicity of M32 is just below solar, this low ratio of C to M stars is unlikely due to a metallicity ceiling for the formation of carbon stars. Instead, the age of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) population is likely to be the primary factor. The ratio of AGB to red giant branch stars in M32 is similar to that of the inner disc of M31 which contain stars that formed 1.5–4 Gyr ago. If the M32 population is at the older end of this age then its lack of C-stars may be consistent with a narrow mass range for carbon star formation predicted by some stellar evolution models. Applying our chemical classifications to the dusty variable stars identified with Spitzer, we find that the x-AGB candidates identified with Spitzer are predominately M-type stars. This substantially increases the lower limit to the cumulative dust-production rate in M32 to > 1.20 × 10−5${\rm M}_{\odot } \, {\rm yr}^{-1}$.

ACA CO(J = 2–1) Mapping of the Nearest Spiral Galaxy M33. I. Initial Results and Identification of Molecular Clouds

We present the results of ALMA-ACA 7 m array observations in 12CO(J = 2–1), 13CO(J = 2–1), and C18O(J = 2–1) line emission toward the molecular-gas disk in the Local Group spiral galaxy M33 at an angular resolution of 7.″31 × 6.″50 (30 × 26 pc). We combined the ACA 7 m array 12CO(J = 2–1) data with the IRAM 30 m data to compensate for emission from diffuse molecular-gas components. The ACA+IRAM combined 12CO(J = 2–1) map clearly depicts the cloud-scale molecular-gas structure over the M33 disk. Based on the ACA+IRAM 12CO(J = 2–1) cube data, we cataloged 848 molecular clouds with a mass range from 103–106 M ⊙. We found that high-mass clouds (≥105 M ⊙) tend to associate with the 8 μm bright sources in the spiral arm region, while low-mass clouds (<105 M ⊙) tend to be apart from such 8 μm bright sources and to exist in the inter-arm region. We compared the cataloged clouds with GMCs observed by the IRAM 30 m telescope at 49 pc resolution (IRAM GMC), and found that a small IRAM GMC is likely to be identified as a single molecular cloud even in ACA+IRAM CO data, while a large IRAM GMC can be resolved into multiple ACA+IRAM clouds. The velocity dispersion of a large IRAM GMC is mainly dominated by the line-of-sight velocity difference between small clouds inside the GMC rather than the internal cloud velocity broadening.

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury. XX. The Disk of M31 is Thick

We present a new approach to measuring the thickness of a partially face-on stellar disk, using dust geometry. In a moderately-inclined disk galaxy, the fraction of reddened stars is expected to be 50% everywhere, assuming that dust lies in a thin midplane. In a thickened disk, however, a wide range of radii project onto the line of sight. Assuming stellar density declines with radius, this geometrical projection leads to differences in the numbers of stars on the near and far sides of the thin dust layer. The fraction of reddened stars will thus differ from the 50% prediction, with a deviation that becomes larger for puffier disks. We map the fraction of reddened red giant branch (RGB) stars across M31, which shows prominent dust lanes on only one side of the major axis. The fraction of reddened stars varies systematically from 20% to 80%, which requires that these stars have an exponential scale height h z that is 0.14 ± 0.015 times the exponential scale length (h r ≈ 5.5 kpc). M31's RGB stars must therefore have h z = 770 ± 80 pc, which is far thicker than the Milky Way’s thin disk, but comparable to its thick disk. The lack of a significant thin disk in M31 is unexpected, but consistent with its interaction history and high disk velocity dispersion. We suggest that asymmetric reddening be used as a generic criterion for identifying “thick disk”-dominated systems, and discuss prospects for future 3D tomographic mapping of the gas and stars in M31.

Multiwavelength Characterization of the High-mass X-Ray Binary Population of M33

We present multiwavelength characterization of 65 high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) candidates in M33. We use the Chandra ACIS survey of M33 (ChASeM33) catalog to select hard X-ray point sources that are spatially coincident with UV-bright point-source optical counterparts in the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region catalog, which covers the inner disk of M33 at near-IR, optical, and near-UV wavelengths. We perform spectral energy distribution fitting on multiband photometry for each point-source optical counterpart to measure its physical properties including mass, temperature, luminosity, and radius. We find that the majority of the HMXB companion star candidates are likely B-type main-sequence stars, suggesting that the HMXB population of M33 is dominated by Be X-ray binaries (Be-XRBs), as is seen in other Local Group galaxies. We use spatially resolved recent star formation history maps of M33 to measure the age distribution of the HMXB candidate sample and the HMXB production rate for M33. We find a bimodal distribution for the HMXB production rate over the last 80 Myr, with a peak at ∼10 and ∼40 Myr, which match theoretical formation timescales for the most massive HMXBs and Be-XRBs, respectively. We measure an HMXB production rate of 107–136 HMXBs/(M ⊙ yr−1) over the last 50 Myr and 150–199 HMXBs/(M ⊙ yr−1) over the last 80 Myr. For sources with compact object classifications from overlapping NuSTAR observations, we find a preference for giant/supergiant companion stars in black hole HMXBs and main-sequence companion stars in neutron star HMXBs.

The Chemodynamics of the Stellar Populations in M31 from APOGEE Integrated-light Spectroscopy

We present an analysis of nearly 1000 near-infrared, integrated-light spectra from APOGEE in the inner ∼7 kpc of M31. We utilize full-spectrum fitting with A-LIST simple stellar population spectral templates that represent a population of stars with the same age, [M/H], and [α/M]. With this, we determine the mean kinematics, metallicities, α abundances, and ages of the stellar populations of M31's bar, bulge, and inner disk (∼4–7 kpc). We find a nonaxisymmetric velocity field in M31 resulting from the presence of a bar. The bulge of M31 is less metal-rich (mean [M/H] = dex) than the disk, features minima in metallicity on either side of the bar ([M/H] ∼ −0.2), and is enhanced in α abundance (mean [α/M] = ). The disk of M31 within ∼7 kpc is enhanced in both metallicity ([M/H] = ) and α abundance ([α/M] = ). Both of these structural components are uniformly old at ≃12 Gyr. We find the mean metallicity increases with distance from the center of M31, with the steepest gradient along the disk major axis (0.043 ± 0.021 dex kpc−1). This gradient is the result of changing light contributions from the bulge and disk. The chemodynamics of stellar populations encodes information about a galaxy’s chemical enrichment, star formation history, and merger history, allowing us to discuss new constraints on M31's formation. Our results provide a stepping stone between our understanding of the Milky Way and other external galaxies.

Resolved SPLASH Chemodynamics in Andromeda’s PHAT Stellar Halo and Disk: On the Nature of the Inner Halo along the Major Axis

Stellar kinematics and metallicity are key to exploring formation scenarios for galactic disks and halos. In this work, we characterized the relationship between kinematics and photometric metallicity along the line of sight to M31's disk. We combined optical Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys photometry, from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury survey, with Keck/DEIMOS spectra, from the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda’s Stellar Halo survey. The resulting sample of 3512 individual red giant branch stars spans 4–19 projected kpc, making it a useful probe of both the disk and inner halo. We separated these stars into disk and halo populations, by modeling the line-of-sight velocity distributions as a function of position across the disk region, where ∼73% stars have a high likelihood of belonging to the disk and ∼14% to the halo. Although stellar halos are typically thought to be metal-poor, the kinematically identified halo contains a significant population of stars (∼29%) with disk-like metallicity ([Fe/H]phot ∼ −0.10). This metal-rich halo population lags the gaseous disk to a similar extent as the rest of the halo, indicating that it does not correspond to a canonical thick disk. Its properties are inconsistent with those of tidal debris originating from the Giant Stellar Stream merger event. Moreover, the halo is chemically distinct from the phase-mixed component previously identified along the minor axis (i.e., away from the disk), implying contributions from different formation channels. These metal-rich halo stars provide direct chemodynamical evidence in favor of the previously suggested “kicked-up” disk population in M31's inner stellar halo.

The Prevalence of the α-bimodality: First JWST α-abundance Results in M31

AbstractWe present initial results from our JWST NIRSpec program to study the α-abundances in the M31 disk. The Milky Way has two chemically-defined disks, the low-α and high-α disks, which are closely related to the thin and thick disks, respectively. The origin of the two populations and the α-bimodality between them is not entirely clear, although there are now several models that can reproduce the observed features. To help constrain the models and discern the origin, we have undertaken a study of the chemical abundances of the M31 disk using JWST NIRSpec, in order to determine whether stars in M31’s disk also show an α-abundance bimodality. Approximately 100 stars were observed in our single NIRSpec field at a projected distance of 18 kpc from the M31 center. The 1-D extracted spectra have an average signal-to-noise ratio of 85 leading to statistical metallicity precision of 0.016 dex, α-abundance precision of 0.012 dex, and a radial velocity precision 8 km s-1 (mostly from systematics). The initial results indicate that, in contrast to the Milky Way, there is no α-bimodality in the M31 disk, and no low-α sequence. The entire stellar population falls along a single chemical sequence very similar to the MW’s high-α component which had a high star formation rate. While this is somewhat unexpected, the result is not that surprising based on other studies that found the M31 disk has a larger velocity dispersion than the MW and is dominated by a thick component. M31 has had a more active accretion and merger history than the MW which might explain the chemical differences.

X-Ray Spectroscopic Evidence of Charge Exchange Emission in the Disk of M51

In the disks of spiral galaxies, diffuse soft X-ray emission is known to be strongly correlated with star-forming regions. However, this emission is not simply from a thermal-equilibrium plasma and its origin remains greatly unclear. In this work, we present an X-ray spectroscopic analysis of the emission from the northern hot spot; a region with enhanced star formation off the nucleus of M51. Based on the high spectral resolution data from XMM-Newton/Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) observations, we unambiguously detect a high G ratio () of the O vii Heα triplet. This high G ratio is also spatially confirmed by oxygen emission-line maps from the same data. A physical model consisting of a thermal plasma and its charge exchange (CX) with neutral cool gas gives a good explanation for the G ratio and the entire RGS spectra. This model also gives a satisfactory characterization of the complementary Chandra ACIS-S data, which enables a direct imaging of the diffuse emission, tracing the hot plasma across the galaxy. The hot plasma has a similar characteristic temperature of ∼0.34 keV and an approximately solar metallicity. The CX contributes ∼50% to the diffuse emission in the 0.4–1.8 keV band, suggesting an effective hot/cool gas interface area about five times the geometric area of the M51 disk. Therefore, the CX appears to play a major role in the soft X-ray production and may be used as a powerful tool to probe the interface astrophysics, important for studying galactic ecosystems.