Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury Research Articles

Variable Stars in M31 Stellar Clusters from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury

Variable stars in stellar clusters can offer key constraints on stellar evolution and pulsation models, utilizing estimates of host cluster properties to constrain stellar physical parameters. We present a catalog of 86 luminous (F814W < 19) variable stars in M31 clusters identified by mining the archival Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey using a combination of statistical analysis of sparse PHAT light curves and difference imaging. We determine the evolutionary phases and initial masses of these variable stars by matching them with theoretical isochrones generated using host cluster properties from the literature. We calculate the probability of PHAT photometry being blended due to the highly crowded nature of cluster environments for each cluster-variable star, using these probabilities to inform our level of confidence in the derived properties of each star. Our 86 cluster-variable stars have initial masses between 0.8 and 67 M ⊙. Their evolutionary phases span the main sequence, more evolved hydrogen- and helium-burning phases, and the post–asymptotic giant branch. We identify numerous candidate variable star types: RV Tauri variables, red supergiants, and slowly pulsating B-type supergiants, along with Wolf–Rayet stars, α Cygni and Mira variables, a classical Cepheid, and a possible superasymptotic giant. We characterize 12 cluster-variable stars at higher confidence based on their difference image quality and lower blending probability. Ours is the first systematic study of variable stars in extragalactic stellar clusters leveraging the superior resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope and demonstrating the unique power of stellar clusters in constraining the fundamental properties of variable stars.

Deriving physical parameters of unresolved star clusters. VIII. Limits of aperture photometry for star cluster studies

Recently, it has been noticed that the discrepancies in the integrated colour indices (CIs) between star clusters and models are mostly due to the projection of bright stars in the apertures. In order to reduce this problem, the method of adaptive aperture photometry has been proposed. This method has been applied to star clusters from the M\,31 Panchromatic $Hubble$ Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey, and studies show that the adaptive aperture photometry performs better than the conventional approach. The aim of this study is to determine the best achievable limits on the accuracy and applicability of the aperture photometry method for studying star clusters in the local Universe. We computed a large network of artificial 3D star clusters spanning the parameter space of the M\,31 clusters. We then simulated images of these clusters by projecting each onto a 2D plane from 100 directions. Star cluster images were generated in six passbands to match the PHAT survey. To investigate the limiting accuracy of aperture photometry and the limits of its applicability to star cluster studies, we measured the simulated images and performed parameter determination tests. We demonstrate that star clusters with and without post-main-sequence stars have significant photometric differences. We show that in order to obtain reliable physical parameters of star clusters, the CIs must be measured using an aperture with a radius larger than the cluster’s half-light radius. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the parameter determination of young clusters (sim 10\,Myr) is problematic regardless of the aperture size used. Therefore, it is advisable to determine the parameters of these clusters using colour-magnitude diagram fitting methods, when possible. We also show that the randomness of the viewing angle can lead to a CI uncertainty of up to 0.1\,mag, depending on cluster parameters and aperture size.

Optical Extinctions of Inter-Arm Molecular Clouds in M31: A Pilot Study for the Upcoming CSST Observations

Recent submillimeter dust thermal emission observations have unveiled a significant number of inter-arm massive molecular clouds in M31. However, the effectiveness of this technique is limited to its sensitivity, making it challenging to study more distant galaxies. This study introduces an alternative approach, utilizing optical extinctions derived from space-based telescopes, with a focus on the forthcoming China Space Station Telescope (CSST). We first demonstrate the capability of this method by constructing dust extinction maps for 17 inter-arm massive molecular clouds in M31 using the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury data. Our analysis reveals that inter-arm massive molecular clouds with an optical extinction (A V) greater than 1.6 mag exhibit a notable A V excess, facilitating their identification. The majority of these inter-arm massive molecular clouds show an A V around 1 mag, aligning with measurements from our JCMT data. Further validation using a mock CSST RGB star catalog confirms the method’s effectiveness. We show that the derived A V values using CSST z and y photometries align more closely with the input values. Molecular clouds with A V > 1.6 mag can also be identified using the CSST mock data. We thus claim that future CSST observation clouds provide an effective way for the detection of inter-arm massive molecular clouds with significant optical extinction in nearby galaxies.

Dust around Massive Stars Is Agnostic to Galactic Environment: New Insights from PHAT/BEAST

Resolving the environments of massive stars is crucial for understanding their formation mechanisms and their impact on galaxy evolution. An important open question is whether massive stars found in diffuse regions outside spiral arms formed in situ or migrated there after forming in denser environments. To address this question, we use multiresolution measurements of extinction in the Andromeda galaxy (M31) to probe the interstellar medium surrounding massive stars across galactic environments. We construct a catalog of 42,107 main-sequence massive star candidates (M ≥ 8 M ⊙) using resolved stellar photometry from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) program, plus stellar and dust model fits from the Bayesian Extinction and Stellar Tool (BEAST). We quantify galactic environments by computing surrounding stellar densities of massive stars using kernel density estimation. We then compare high-resolution line-of-sight extinction estimates from the BEAST with 25 pc resolution dust maps from PHAT, measuring the total column density distribution of extinction. Our key finding is that, although the average total column density of dust increases with the density of massive stars, the average line-of-sight extinction toward massive stars remains constant across all environments. This suggests that massive stars have a uniform amount of dust in their immediate environment, regardless of their location in the galaxy. One possible explanation for these findings is that small molecular clouds are still capable of forming massive stars, even if they are not resolvable at 25 pc. These results indicate that massive stars are forming in the sparse regions of M31, as opposed to migrating there.

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.

Carbon Stars as Standard Candles: An Empirical Test for the Reddening, Metallicity, and Age Sensitivity of the J-region Asymptotic Giant Branch (JAGB) Method

The J-region Asymptotic Giant Branch (JAGB) method is a standard candle based on the intrinsic luminosities of carbon stars in the near-infrared. We directly constrain the impact of metallicity, age, and reddening on the JAGB method. We assess how the mode, skew, and spread of the JAGB star LF change throughout diverse stellar environments in M31's NE disk from 13 < d < 18 kpc using data from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT). As expected, the mode is found to be fainter in higher-reddening regions. To cross-check this result, we also measure a fiducial J-band ground-based JAGB distance using data from the UKIRT/WFCam in M31's outermost disk (18 < d < 40 kpc) where internal reddening is minimal. We find that this J-band distance modulus agrees well with the F110W distance moduli measured in the lowest-reddening regions of the PHAT data, demonstrating the JAGB method is most accurate if measured in the low-reddening outer disks of galaxies. On the other hand, the mode of the JAGB star LF appears empirically to show no dependence on age or metallicity within the range −0.18 < [M/H] < −0.26 dex. In conclusion, the JAGB method proves to be a robust standard candle capable of calibrating the luminosities of Type Ia supernovae and therefore providing a high-accuracy, high-precision measurement of the Hubble constant.

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury. XXI. The Legacy Resolved Stellar Photometry Catalog

We present the final legacy version of stellar photometry for the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey. We have reprocessed all of the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys near-ultraviolet (F275W, F336W), optical (F475W, F814W), and near-infrared (F110W, F160W) imaging from the PHAT survey using an improved method that optimized the survey depth and chip-gap coverage by including all overlapping exposures in all bands in the photometry. An additional improvement was gained through the use of charge transfer efficiency (CTE)–corrected input images, which provide more complete star finding as well as more reliable photometry for the NUV bands, which had no CTE correction in the previous version of the PHAT photometry. While this method requires significantly more computing resources and time than earlier versions where the photometry was performed on individual pointings, it results in smaller systematic instrumental completeness variations as demonstrated by cleaner maps in stellar density, and it results in optimal constraints on stellar fluxes in all bands from the survey data. Our resulting catalog has 138 million stars, 18% more than the previous catalog, with lower density regions gaining as much as 40% more stars. The new catalog produces nearly seamless population maps that show relatively well-mixed distributions for populations associated with ages older than 1–2 Gyr and highly structured distributions for the younger populations.

Deriving physical parameters of unresolved star clusters

Context. This work is the seventh study in a series dedicated to investigating degeneracies of simultaneous age, mass, extinction, and metallicity determinations of partially resolved or unresolved star clusters with Hubble Space Telescope broadband aperture photometry. In the sixth work (hereafter, Paper I), it was demonstrated that the adaptive aperture photometry, performed to avoid the majority of the projected foreground and background stars falling within the apertures, gives more consistent colour indices for star clusters. Aims. In this study, we aim to supplement the homogeneous multi-colour aperture photometry results published in Paper I and provide a complete M 31 Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey star cluster photometry catalogue for further analysis. Methods. Following Paper I, we used a two-aperture approach for photometry. The first aperture is the standard one used to measure total cluster fluxes. The second (smaller) aperture is introduced to avoid the bright foreground and background stars projecting onto the clusters. We selected the radii of smaller apertures to be larger than the half-light radii of the clusters. Results. We present the second part of the star cluster aperture photometry catalogues for a sample of 1477 star clusters from the M 31 PHAT survey not covered in Paper I. Compared to the M 31 PHAT star cluster aperture photometry catalogue published by Johnson et al., adjustments were made to the cluster centre coordinates, aperture sizes, and sky background levels.

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.

Clusters, clouds, and correlations: relating young clusters to giant molecular clouds in M33 and M31

ABSTRACT We use young clusters and giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the galaxies M33 and M31 to constrain temporal and spatial scales in the star formation process. In M33, we compare the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) catalogue of 1214 clusters with ages measured via colour–magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting to 444 GMCs identified from a new 35 pc resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 12CO(2–1) survey. In M31, we compare the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) catalogue of 1249 clusters to 251 GMCs measured from a Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) 12CO(1–0) survey with 20 pc resolution. Through two-point correlation analysis, we find that young clusters have a high probability of being near other young clusters, but correlation between GMCs is suppressed by the cloud identification algorithm. By comparing the positions, we find that younger clusters are closer to GMCs than older clusters. Through cross-correlation analysis of the M33 cluster data, we find that clusters are statistically associated when they are ≤10 Myr old. Utilizing the high precision ages of the clusters, we find that clusters older than ≈18 Myr are uncorrelated with the molecular interstellar medium (ISM). Using the spatial coincidence of the youngest clusters and GMCs in M33, we estimate that clusters spend ≈4–6 Myr inside their parent GMC. Through similar analysis, we find that the GMCs in M33 have a total lifetime of ≈11–15 Myr. We also develop a drift model and show that the above correlations can be explained if the clusters in M33 have a 5–10 km s−1 velocity dispersion relative to the molecular ISM.

The Masses of Supernova Remnant Progenitors in M33

Using resolved optical stellar photometry from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury Triangulum Extended Region survey, we measured the star formation history near the position of 85 supernova remnants (SNRs) in M33. We constrained the progenitor masses for 60 of these SNRs, finding that the remaining 25 remnants had no local star formation in the last 56 Myr, consistent with core-collapse supernovae, making them potential Type Ia candidates. We then infer a progenitor mass distribution from the age distribution, assuming single star evolution. We find that the progenitor mass distribution is consistent with being drawn from a power law with an index of . Additionally, we infer a minimum progenitor mass of M ⊙ from this sample, consistent with several previous studies, providing further evidence that stars with ages older than the lifetimes of single 8 M ⊙ stars are producing supernovae.

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 Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER). IV. Star Cluster Catalog

We construct a catalog of star clusters from Hubble Space Telescope images of the inner disk of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33) using image classifications collected by the Local Group Cluster Search, a citizen science project hosted on the Zooniverse platform. We identify 1214 star clusters within the Hubble Space Telescope imaging footprint of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) survey. Comparing this catalog to existing compilations in the literature, 68% of the clusters are newly identified. The final catalog includes multiband aperture photometry and fits for cluster properties via integrated light spectral energy distribution fitting. The cluster catalog’s 50% completeness limit is ∼1500 M ☉ at an age of 100 Myr, as derived from comprehensive synthetic cluster tests.

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER). II. The Spatially Resolved Recent Star Formation History of M33

We measure the spatially resolved recent star formation history (SFH) of M33 using optical images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) survey. The area covered by the observations used in this analysis covers a de-projected area of ∼38 kpc2 and extends to ∼3.5 and ∼2 kpc from the center of M33 along the major and semimajor axes, respectively. We divide the PHATTER optical survey into 2005 regions that measure 24 arcsec, ∼100 pc, on a side and fit color–magnitude diagrams for each region individually to measure the spatially resolved SFH of M33 within the PHATTER footprint. There are significant fluctuations in the SFH on small spatial scales and also galaxy-wide scales that we measure back to about 630 Myr ago. We observe a more flocculent spiral structure in stellar populations younger than about 80 Myr, while the structure of the older stellar populations is dominated by two spiral arms. We also observe a bar in the center of M33, which dominates at ages older than about 80 Myr. Finally, we find that the mean star formation rate (SFR) over the last 100 Myr within the PHATTER footprint is 0.32 ± 0.02 M⊙ yr−1. We measure a current SFR (over the last 10 Myr) of 0.20 ± 0.03 M⊙ yr−1. This SFR is slightly higher than previous measurements from broadband estimates, when scaled to account for the fraction of the D25 area covered by the PHATTER survey footprint.

A Census of Thermally Pulsing AGB Stars in the Andromeda Galaxy and a First Estimate of Their Contribution to the Global Dust Budget

Abstract We present a near-complete catalog of the metal-rich population of thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the northwest quadrant of M31. This metal-rich sample complements the equally complete metal-poor Magellanic Cloud AGB catalogs produced by the SAGE program. Our catalog includes Hubble Space Telescope (HST) wide-band photometry from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury survey, HST medium-band photometry used to chemically classify a subset of the sample, and Spitzer mid- and far-IR photometry that we have used to isolate dust-producing AGB stars. We have detected 346,623 AGB stars; these include 4802 AGB candidates producing considerable dust, and 1356 AGB candidates that lie within clusters with measured ages, and in some cases metallicities. Using the Spitzer data and chemical classifications made with the medium-band data, we have identified both carbon- and oxygen-rich AGB candidates producing significant dust. We have applied color–mass-loss relations based on dusty-AGB stars from the LMC to estimate the dust injection by AGB stars in the PHAT footprint. Applying our color relations to a subset of the chemically classified stars producing the bulk of the dust, we find that ∼97.8% of the dust is oxygen-rich. Using several scenarios for the dust lifetime, we have estimated the contribution of AGB stars to the global dust budget of M31 to be 0.9%–35.5%, which is in line with previous estimates in the Magellanic Clouds. Follow-up observations of the M31 AGB candidates with the JWST will allow us to further constrain stellar and chemical evolutionary models, and the feedback and dust production of metal-rich evolved stars.

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER). III. The Mass Function of Young Stellar Clusters in M33

Abstract We measure the star cluster mass function (CMF) for the Local Group galaxy M33. We use the catalog of stellar clusters selected from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region survey. We analyze 711 clusters in M33 with 7.0 &lt; log ( Age / yr ) &lt; 8.5 , and log(M/M ⊙) &gt; 3.0 as determined from color–magnitude diagram fits to individual stars. The M33 CMF is best described by a Schechter function with power-law slope α = − 2.06 − 0.13 + 0.14 , and truncation mass log(M c /M ⊙) = 4.24 − 0.13 + 0.16 . The data show strong evidence for a high-mass truncation, thus strongly favoring a Schechter function fit over a pure power law. M33's truncation mass is consistent with the previously identified linear trend between M c , and star formation rate surface density, ΣSFR. We also explore the effect that individual cluster mass uncertainties have on derived mass function parameters, and find evidence to suggest that large cluster mass uncertainties have the potential to bias the truncation mass of fitted mass functions at the 1σ level.

Testing the Momentum-driven Supernova Feedback Paradigm in M31

Abstract Momentum feedback from isolated supernova remnants (SNRs) have been increasingly recognized by modern cosmological simulations as a resolution-independent means to implement the effects of feedback in galaxies, such as turbulence and winds. However, the integrated momentum yield from SNRs is uncertain due to the effects of SN clustering and interstellar medium (ISM) inhomogeneities. In this paper, we use spatially resolved observations of the prominent 10 kpc star-forming ring of M31 to test models of mass-weighted ISM turbulence driven by momentum feedback from isolated, nonoverlapping SNRs. We use a detailed stellar age distribution (SAD) map from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury survey, observationally constrained SN delay-time distributions, and maps of the atomic and molecular hydrogen to estimate the mass-weighted velocity dispersion using the Martizzi et al. ISM turbulence model. Our estimates are within a factor of two of the observed mass-weighted velocity dispersion in most of the ring, but exceed observations at densities ≲0.2 cm−3 and SN rates &gt;2.1 × 10−4 SN yr−1 kpc−2, even after accounting for plausible variations in SAD models and ISM scale height assumptions. We conclude that at high SN rates the momentum deposited is most likely suppressed by the nonlinear effects of SN clustering, while at low densities, SNRs reach pressure equilibrium before the cooling phase. These corrections should be introduced in models of momentum-driven feedback and ISM turbulence.

A Sub-2% Distance to M31 from Photometrically Homogeneous Near-infrared Cepheid Period–Luminosity Relations Measured with the Hubble Space Telescope

Abstract We present period–luminosity relations (PLRs) for 55 Cepheids in M31 with periods ranging from 4 to 78 days observed with the Hubble Space Telescope using the same three-band photometric system recently used to calibrate their luminosities. Images were taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 in two optical filters (F555W and F814W) and one near-infrared filter (F160W) using the Drift and Shift (DASH) mode of operation to significantly reduce overheads and observe widely separated Cepheids in a single orbit. We include additional F160W epochs for each Cepheid from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury and use light curves from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System of the Andromeda galaxy project to determine mean magnitudes. Combined with a 1.28% absolute calibration of Cepheid PLRs in the Large Magellanic Cloud from Riess et al. in the same three filters, we find a distance modulus to M31 of μ 0 = 24.407 ± 0.032, corresponding to 761 ± 11 kpc and 1.49% uncertainty including all error sources, the most precise determination of its distance to date. We compare our results to past measurements using Cepheids and the tip of the red giant branch. This study also provides the groundwork for turning M31 into a precision anchor galaxy in the cosmic distance ladder to measure the Hubble constant together with efforts to measure a fully geometric distance to M31.

Deriving physical parameters of unresolved star clusters

Context. This study is the sixth of a series that investigates degeneracy and stochasticity problems present in the determination of the age, mass, extinction, and metallicity of partially resolved or unresolved star clusters in external galaxies when using Hubble Space Telescope broadband photometry. In the fifth publication, it was noticed that inconsistencies in cluster colour indices, which arise due to projected foreground and background stars on the apertures, enhance age-metallicity-extinction degeneracies. Aims. In this work we aim to present new aperture photometry results for a sample of star clusters from the M 31 Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey. Methods. We employed two methods of aperture photometry. The first method is ordinary aperture photometry to measure total cluster fluxes. The second method was introduced to avoid the brightest foreground and background stars that project onto large apertures. This method employs smaller apertures, adapted to cover a central part of clusters, and applies an aperture correction, derived for the F475W passband, to other passbands. We note that this procedure is valid only for clusters without prominent systematic gradients of colour indices beyond half-light radii. Results. We present two catalogues of star cluster aperture photometry (produced by applying ordinary aperture photometry and adaptive aperture photometry methods) with estimated uncertainties for a sample of 1181 star clusters from the M 31 PHAT survey. Compared to the M 31 PHAT fundamental star cluster aperture photometry catalogue published by Johnson et al., there are changes made in the following: cluster centre coordinates, aperture sizes, and sky background estimates.