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Register a new userStar Clusters in M 31. IV. A Comparative Analysis of Absorption Line Indices in Old M 31 and Milky Way Clusters
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Added by
Ricardo P. Schiavon
Publication date
2011
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We present absorption line indices measured in the integrated spectra of globular clusters both from the Galaxy and from M 31. Our samples include 41 Galactic globular clusters, and more than 300 clusters in M 31. The conversion of instrumental equivalent widths into the Lick system is described, and zero-point uncertainties are provided. Comparison of line indices of old M 31 clusters and Galactic globular clusters suggests an absence of important differences in chemical composition between the two cluster systems. In particular, CN indices in the spectra of M 31 and Galactic clusters are essentially consistent with each other, in disagreement with several previous works. We reanalyze some of the previous data, and conclude that reported CN differences between M 31 and Galactic clusters were mostly due to data calibration uncertainties. Our data support the conclusion that the chemical compositions of Milky Way and M 31 globular clusters are not substantially different, and that there is no need to resort to enhanced nitrogen abundances to account for the optical spectra of M 31 globular clusters.
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The objective of this work is to obtain an extinction-corrected distribution of optical surface brightness and colour indices of the large nearby galaxy M 31 using homogeneous observational data and a model for intrinsic extinction. We process the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) images in ugriz passbands and construct corresponding mosaic images, taking special care of subtracting the varying sky background. We apply the galactic model developed in Tempel et al. (2010) and far-infrared imaging to correct the photometry for intrinsic dust effects. We obtain observed and dust-corrected distributions of the surface brightness of M 31 and a map of line-of-sight extinctions inside the galaxy. Our extinction model suggests that either M 31 is intrinsically non-symmetric along the minor axis or the dust properties differ from those of the Milky Way. Assuming the latter case, we present the surface brightness distributions and integral photometry for the Sloan filters as well as the standard UBVRI system. We find the following intrinsic integral colour indices for M 31: (U-B)_0=0.35; (B-V)_0=0.86; (V-R)_0=0.63; (R-I)_0=0.53; the total intrinsic absorption-corrected luminosities of M 31 in the B and the V filters are 4.10 and 3.24 mag, respectively.
We analyze our accurate kinematical data for the old clusters in the inner regions of M31. These velocities are based on high S/N Hectospec data (Caldwell et al 2010). The data are well suited for analysis of M31s inner regions because we took particular care to correct for contamination by unresolved field stars from the disk and bulge in the fibers. The metal poor clusters show kinematics which are compatible with a pressure-supported spheroid. The kinematics of metal-rich clusters, however, argue for a disk population. In particular the innermost region (inside 2 kpc) shows the kinematics of the x2 family of bar periodic orbits, arguing for the existence of an inner Lindblad resonance in M31.
AIMS: In their 1st extension to the Milky Way Star Clusters (MWSC) survey, Schmeja et al. applied photometric filters to the 2MASS to find new cluster candidates that were subsequently confirmed or rejected by the MWSC pipeline. To further extend the MWSC census, we aimed at discovering new clusters by conducting an almost global search in proper motion catalogues as a starting point. METHODS: We first selected high-quality samples from the PPMXL and UCAC4 for comparison and verification of the proper motions. For 441 circular proper motion bins (radius 15 mas/yr) within $pm$50 mas/yr, the sky outside a thin Galactic plane zone ($|b|$$<$5$^{circ}$) was binned in small areas (sky pixels) of 0.25$times$0.25 deg$^2$. Sky pixels with enhanced numbers of stars with a certain common proper motion in both catalogues were considered as cluster candidates. After visual inspection of the sky images, we built an automated procedure that combined these representations of the sky for neighbouring proper motion subsamples after a background correction. RESULTS: About half of our 692 candidates overlapped with known clusters (46 globular and 68 open clusters in the Galaxy, about 150 known clusters of galaxies) or the Magellanic Clouds. About 10% of our candidates turned out to be 63 new open clusters confirmed by the MWSC pipeline. They occupy predominantly the two inner Galactic quadrants and have apparent sizes and numbers of high-probable members slightly larger than those of the typically small MWSC clusters, whereas their other parameters (ages, distances, tidal radii) fall in the typical ranges. As our search aimed at finding compact clusters, we did not find new very nearby (extended) clusters. (abridged)
We create a model for recovering the intrinsic, absorption-corrected surface brightness distribution of a galaxy and apply the model to the M31. We construct a galactic model as a superposition of axially symmetric stellar components and a dust disc to analyse the intrinsic absorption efects. Dust column density is assumed to be proportional to the far-infrared flux of the galaxy. Along each line of sight, the observed far-infrared spectral energy distribution is approximated with modified black body functions considering dust components with different temperatures, allowing to determine the temperatures and relative column densities of the dust components. We apply the model to the nearby galaxy M31 using the Spitzer Space Telescope far-infrared observations for mapping dust distribution and temperature. A warm and a cold dust component are distinguished. The temperature of the warm dust in M31 varies between 56 and 60 K and is highest in the spiral arms; the temperature of the cold component is mostly 15-19 K and rises up to about 25 K at the centre of the galaxy. The intensity-weighted mean temperature of the dust decreases from T ~32 K at the centre to T ~20 K at R ~7 kpc and outwards. We also calculate the intrinsic UBVRIL surface brightness distributions and the spatial luminosity distribution. The intrinsic dust extinction in the V-colour rises from 0.25 mag at the centre to 0.4-0.5 mag at R = 6-13 kpc and decreases smoothly thereafter. The calculated total extinction-corrected luminosity of M31 is L_B = (3.64 pm 0.15) 10^10L_sun, corresponding to an absolute luminosity M_B = (-20.89 pm 0.04) mag. Of the total B-luminosity, 20% (0.24 mag) is obscured from us by the dust inside M31. The intrinsic shape of the bulge is slightly prolate in our best-fit model.
We present a new homogeneous set of metallicity estimates based on Lick indices for 245 old globular clusters of the M31 galaxy comprised in the Revised Bologna Catalog. The metallicity distribution of the M31 globular clusters is briefly discussed and compared with that of the Milky Way. Simple parametric statistics suggests that the [Fe/H] distribution is likely not unimodal. The strong correlation between metallicity and kinematics found in previous studies is confirmed. The most metal-rich GCs tend to be packed at the center of the system and share the galactic rotation as traced by the HI disk. Although the velocity dispersion around the curve increases with decreasing metallicity, also clusters with [Fe/H]<-1.0 display a clear rotational pattern, at odds with their Milky Way counterparts.
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