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RGB stars as derived from the INT WFC survey. The Andromeda Stream of stars is clearly visible extending to the south.
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The existence of a stream of tidally stripped stars from the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy demonstrates that the Milky Way is still in the process of accreting mass. More recently, an extensive stream of stars has been uncovered in the halo of the Andromeda galaxy (M31), revealing that it too is cannibalizing a small companion. This paper reports the re...
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... examination of the halo stellar density by eye clearly reveals that it is not smooth, showing significant substruc- ture, particularly an apparent stream of stars stretching to the south of the main body of Andromeda. This fea- ture is significantly enhanced if a selection is made of metal rich red giant branch (RGB) stars (see Figure 1; note, this figure contains further observations with the INT WFC, mapping out the northern sector of the halo also). As well as the prominent tidal stream, these data also reveal com- plex structure in the halo of M31, including the northern spur and a significant over density of stars in the vicinity of the giant globular cluster G1 ( Ferguson et al. 2002). ...
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Citations
... If a progenitor is still present, it is likely in the vicinity of the Eastern Shelf, close to the M31 disk. Note that the Eastern Shelf is sometimes referred to as the Northeast Shelf (e.g., Ferguson et al. 2005 Lewis et al. (2004). Zucker et al. (2004) called it "Andromeda Northeast," and it is also occasionally referred to as the "NE Clump" (e.g., Richardson et al. 2008;Lewis et al. 2013;Ferguson & Mackey 2016), although this should not be confused with a separate structure that was found by Davidge (2012) and also referred to as the NE Clump. ...
The Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey is a survey of >400 square degrees centered on the Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33) galaxies that has provided the most extensive panorama of an L ∗ galaxy group to large projected galactocentric radii. Here, we collate and summarize the current status of our knowledge of the substructures in the stellar halo of M31, and discuss connections between these features. We estimate that the 13 most distinctive substructures were produced by at least 5 different accretion events, all in the last 3 or 4 Gyr. We suggest that a few of the substructures farthest from M31 may be shells from a single accretion event. We calculate the luminosities of some prominent substructures for which previous estimates were not available, and we estimate the stellar mass budget of the outer halo of M31. We revisit the problem of quantifying the properties of a highly structured data set; specifically, we use the OPTICS clustering algorithm to quantify the hierarchical structure of M31's stellar halo and identify three new faint structures. M31's halo, in projection, appears to be dominated by two "mega-structures," which can be considered as the two most significant branches of a merger tree produced by breaking M31's stellar halo into increasingly smaller structures based on the stellar spatial clustering. We conclude that OPTICS is a powerful algorithm that could be used in any astronomical application involving the hierarchical clustering of points. The publication of this article coincides with the public release of all PAndAS data products. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
... • H -North-East Structure: Zucker et al. (2004) identify this diffuse structure in photometry from an SDSS scan of M31, and it is also visible in the INT WFC footprint of M31 presented by Lewis et al. (2004). Zucker et al. (2004) called it "Andromeda North-East" and it is also occasionally referred to as the "NE Clump" (e.g., Richardson et al. 2008;Lewis et al. 2013;Ferguson & Mackey 2016), although this should not be confused with a seperate structure that was found by Davidge (2012) that this author also referred to as the NE Clump. ...
The Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey is a survey of $>400$ square degrees centered on the Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33) galaxies that has provided the most extensive panorama of a $L_\star$ galaxy group to large projected galactocentric radii. Here, we collate and summarise the current status of our knowledge of the substructures in the stellar halo of M31, and discuss connections between these features. We estimate that the 13 most distinctive substructures were produced by at least 5 different accretion events, all in the last 3 or 4 Gyrs. We suggest that a few of the substructures furthest from M31 may be shells from a single accretion event. We calculate the luminosities of some prominent substructures for which previous estimates were not available, and we estimate the stellar mass budget of the outer halo of M31. We revisit the problem of quantifying the properties of a highly structured dataset; specifically, we use the OPTICS clustering algorithm to quantify the hierarchical structure of M31's stellar halo, and identify three new faint structures. M31's halo, in projection, appears to be dominated by two `mega-structures', that can be considered as the two most significant branches of a merger tree produced by breaking M31's stellar halo into smaller and smaller structures based on the stellar spatial clustering. We conclude that OPTICS is a powerful algorithm that could be used in any astronomical application involving the hierarchical clustering of points. The publication of this article coincides with the public release of all PAndAS data products.
... M31 was long thought to have been a relatively quiet spiral galaxy with a well defined edge, but a faint diffuse outer disc, riddled with substructure, is now visible. Within this substructure, a giant stellar stream (Ibata et al. 2001c), a new class of stellar cluster (Huxor et al. 2005) and the new dwarf galaxy, Andromeda IX (Lewis et al. 2004;Zucker et al. 2004), have been discovered. As we probe our own Galaxy to similar depths, will we uncover similar structure? ...
We present the results of an AAT wide-field camera survey of the stars in the Monoceros Ring and purported Canis Major overdensity in the Galactic longitudes of {\it l} = (193 - 276)$^\circ$. Current numerical simulations suggest that both of these structures are the result of a single on-going accretion event, although an alternative solution is that the warped and flared disc of the Galaxy can explain the origin of both of these structures. Our results show that, with regards the Monoceros Ring, the warped and flared disc is unable to reproduce the locations and strengths of the detections observed around the Galaxy. This supports a non-Galactic origin for this structure. We report 8 new detections and 2 tentative detections of the Monoceros Ring in this survey. The exact nature of the Canis Major overdensity is still unresolved although this survey provides evidence that invoking the Galactic warp is not a sufficient solution when compared with observation. Several fields in this survey are highly inconsistent with the current Galactic disc models that include a warp and flare, to such an extent that explaining their origins with these structures is problematic. (Abridged)
We present the first comprehensive spectroscopic study of the Andromeda galaxy’s Eastern Extent. This ∼4○ long filamentary structure, located 70-90 kpc from the centre of M31, lies perpendicular to Andromeda’s minor axis and the Giant Stellar Stream and overlaps Stream C. In this work, we explore the properties of the Eastern Extent to look for possible connections between it, the Giant Stellar Stream and Stream C. We present the kinematics and photometry for ∼50 red giant branch stars in 7 fields along the Eastern Extent. We measure the systemic velocities for these fields and find them to be −368 km s−1 ≲ $\textit {v}$ ≲ −331 km s−1, with a slight velocity gradient of −0.51 ±0.21 km s−1 kpc−1 towards the Giant Stellar Stream. We derive the photometric metallicities for stars in the Eastern Extent, finding them to be metal-poor with values of −1.0 ≲ [Fe/H]phot ≲ −0.7 with a <[Fe/H]phot> ∼−0.9. We find consistent properties for the Eastern Extent, Stream B and one of the substructures in Stream C, Stream Cr, plausibly linking these features. Stream Cp and its associated globular cluster, EC4, have distinctly different properties indicative of a separate structure. When we compare the properties of the Eastern Extent to those of the Giant Stellar Stream, we find them to be consistent, albeit slightly more metal-poor, such that the Eastern Extent could plausibly comprise stars stripped from the progenitor of the Giant Stellar Stream.
We present a kinematic and spectroscopic analysis of 38 red giant branch stars, in seven fields, spanning the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Andromeda XXVII and the upper segment of the North West Stream. Both features are located in the outer halo of the Andromeda galaxy at a projected radius of 50–80 kpc, with the stream extending for ∼3° on the sky. Our data are obtained as part of the PAndAS survey and enables us to confirm that Andromeda XXVII’s heliocentric distance is 827 ± 47 kpc and spectroscopic metallicity is $-2.1^{+0.4}_{-0.5}$. We also re-derive Andromeda XXVII’s kinematic properties, measuring a systemic velocity = $-526.1^{+10.0}_{-11.0}$ km s−1 and a velocity dispersion that we find to be non-Gaussian but for which we derive a formal value of 27.0$^{+2.2}_{-3.9}$ km s−1. In the upper segment of the North West Stream we measure mean values for the metallicity = −1.8 ± 0.4, systemic velocity = −519.4 ± 4.0 km s−1, and velocity dispersion = 10.0 ± 4.0 km s−1. We also detect a velocity gradient of 1.7 ± 0.3 km s−1 kpc−1 on an infall trajectory towards M31. With a similar gradient, acting in the same direction, in the lower segment we suggest that the North West Stream is not a single structure. As the properties of the upper segment of the North West Stream and Andromeda XXVII are consistent within 90 per cent confidence limits, it is likely that the two are related and plausible that Andromeda XXVII is the progenitor of this stream.
The chemical evolution history of a galaxy hides clues about how it formed and has been changing through time. We have studied the chemical evolution history of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) to find which are common features in the chemical evolution of disc galaxies as well as which are galaxy-dependent. We use a semi-analytic multizone chemical evolution model. Such models have succeeded in explaining the mean trends of the observed chemical properties in these two Local Group spiral galaxies with similar mass and morphology. Our results suggest that while the evolution of the MW and M31 shares general similarities, differences in the formation history are required to explain the observations in detail. In particular, we found that the observed higher metallicity in the M31 halo can be explained by either (i) a higher halo star formation efficiency (SFE), or (ii) a larger reservoir of infalling halo gas with a longer halo formation phase. These two different pictures would lead to (i) a higher [O/Fe] at low metallicities, or (ii) younger stellar populations in the M31 halo, respectively. Both pictures result in a more massive stellar halo in M31, which suggests a possible correlation between the halo metallicity and its stellar mass.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has revealed an overdensity of luminous red giant stars ~3° (40 projected kpc) to the northeast of M31, which we have called Andromeda NE. The line-of-sight distance to Andromeda NE is within ~50 kpc of M31; Andromeda NE is not a physically unrelated projection. Andromeda NE has a g-band absolute magnitude of ~-11.6 and a central surface brightness of ~29 mag arcsec-2, making it nearly 2 orders of magnitude more diffuse than any known Local Group dwarf galaxy at that luminosity. Based on its distance and morphology, Andromeda NE is likely undergoing tidal disruption. Andromeda NE's red giant branch color is unlike that of M31's present-day outer disk or the stellar stream reported by Ibata et al., arguing against a direct link between Andromeda NE and these structures. However, Andromeda NE has a red giant branch color similar to that of the G1 clump; it is possible that these structures are both material torn off of M31's disk in the distant past or that these are both part of one ancient stellar stream.
We present the results of a kinematic survey of the dwarf spheroidal satellite of M31, And IX, which appears to be the lowest surface brightness and also the faintest galaxy (MV = -8.3) found to date. Using Keck DEIMOS spectroscopic data, we have measured its velocity relative to M31, its velocity dispersion, and its metallicity. It exhibits a significant velocity dispersion σv = 6.8 km s-1, which coupled with the low luminosity implies a very high mass-to-V-band light ratio, M/L ~ 93 M☉/L☉ (M/L > 17 M☉/L☉ at 99% confidence). Unless strong tidal forces have perturbed this system, this smallest of galaxies is a highly dark matter-dominated system.
We use data from the Isaac Newton Telescope Wide-Field Camera survey of M31 to determine the surface brightness profile of M31 along the southeast minor axis. We combine surface photometry and faint red giant branch star counts to trace the profile from the innermost regions out to a projected radius of 4° (≈55 kpc), where μV ~ 32 mag arcsec-2; this is the first time the M31 minor-axis profile has been mapped over such a large radial distance using a single data set. We confirm the finding by Pritchet & van den Bergh that the minor-axis profile can be described by a single de Vaucouleurs law out to a projected radius of 14 or ≈20 kpc. Beyond this, the surface brightness profile flattens considerably and is consistent with either a power law of index about -2.3 or an exponential of scale length 14 kpc. The fraction of the total M31 luminosity contained in this component is ≈2.5%. While it is tempting to associate this outer component with a true Population II halo in M31, we find that the mean color of the stellar population remains roughly constant at V - i ≈ 1.6 from 05 to 35 along the minor axis. This result suggests that the same metal-rich stellar population dominates both structural components.
New images of M31 at 24, 70, and 160 μm taken with the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) reveal the morphology of the dust in this galaxy. This morphology is well represented by a composite of two logarithmic spiral arms and a circular ring (radius ~10 kpc) of star formation offset from the nucleus. The two spiral arms appear to start at the ends of a bar in the nuclear region and extend beyond the star-forming ring. As has been found in previous work, the spiral arms are not continuous, but composed of spiral segments. The star-forming ring is very circular except for a region near M32 where it splits. The lack of well-defined spiral arms and the prominence of the nearly circular ring suggest that M31 has been distorted by interactions with its satellite galaxies. Using new dynamical simulations of M31 interacting with M32 and NGC 205, we find that, qualitatively, such interactions can produce an offset, split ring like that seen in the MIPS images.
