Line fluxes & abundances in M31 HII regions Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Bosomworth C.
  2. Forbrich J.
  3. Lada C.J.
  4. Caldwell N.
  5. Kobayashi C.,Viaene S.
  6. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

From a spectroscopic survey of candidate H ii regions in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with MMT/Hectospec, we have identified 294 H ii regions using emission line ratios and calculated elemental abundances from strong-line diagnostics (values ranging from subsolar to supersolar) producing both oxygen and nitrogen radial abundance gradients. The oxygen gradient is relatively flat, while the nitrogen gradient is significantly steeper, indicating a higher N/O ratio in M31's inner regions, consistent with recent simulations of galaxy chemical evolution. No strong evidence was found of systematic galaxy-scale trends beyond the radial gradient. After subtracting the radial gradient from abundance values, we find an apparently stochastic and statistically significant scatter of standard deviation 0.06dex, which exceeds measurement uncertainties. One explanation includes a possible collision with M32 200-800Myr ago. Using the two-point correlation function of the oxygen abundance, we find that, similar to other spiral galaxies, M31 is well-mixed on sub-kpc scales but less so on larger (kpc) scales, which could be a result of an exponential decrease in mixing speed with spatial scale, and the aforementioned recent merger. Finally, the MMT spectroscopy is complemented by a dust continuum and CO survey of individual giant molecular clouds, conducted with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). By combining the MMT and SMA observations, we obtain a unique direct test of the oxygen abundance dependence of the {alpha}'(^12^CO) factor which is crucial to convert CO emission to dust mass. Our results suggest that within our sample there is no trend of the {alpha}'(^12^CO) with oxygen abundance.

Keywords
  1. h-i-line-emission
  2. h-ii-regions
  3. chemical-abundances
  4. extinction
  5. galaxies
  6. molecular-clouds
  7. spectroscopy
  8. visible-astronomy
  9. infrared-astronomy
  10. interstellar-medium
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2025MNRAS.536.3803B
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/536/3803
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/536/3803

Access

Web browser access HTML
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/536/3803
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/536/3803
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/536/3803
IVOA Table Access TAP
https://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/536/3803/table1?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/536/3803/table1?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/536/3803/table1?
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/536/3803/table2?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/536/3803/table2?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/536/3803/table2?

History

2026-01-09T10:14:34Z
Resource record created
2026-01-09T10:14:34Z
Created
2026-01-09T12:22:09Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr