First detection and characterization of symbiotic stars in M31

Abstract

Symbiotic binaries are putative progenitors of type Ia supernovae. The census of Galactic symbiotic binaries is so incomplete that we cannot reliably estimate the total population of these stars, and use it to check whether that number is consistent with the observed type Ia supernova rate in spiral galaxies. We have thus begun a survey of the nearest counterpart of our own Galaxy, namely M31, where a relatively complete census of symbiotic stars is achievable. We report the first detections and spectrographic characterizations of 35 symbiotic binaries in M31, and compare these stars with the symbiotic population in the Milky Way. These newly detected M31 symbiotic binaries are remarkably similar to galactic symbiotics, though we are clearly only sampling (in this feasibility study) the most luminous symbiotics in M31. We have also found, in M31, the symbiotic star (M31SyS J004233.17+412720.7) with the highest ionization level known amongst all symbiotics. An optical outburst of the M31 symbiotic star M31SyS J004322.50+413940.9 was probably a nova-like outburst, the first symbiotic outburst detected outside the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds.

19 pages, 16 figures, MNRAS in press

References in corpus (9)

• A Survey of Local Group Galaxies Currently Forming Stars. I. UBVRI Photometry of Stars in M31 and M33
• A Survey of Local Group Galaxies Currently Forming Stars: III. A Search for Luminous Blue Variables and Other H-alpha Emission-Lined Stars
• A deep kinematic survey of planetary nebulae in the Andromeda Galaxy using the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph
• Star Clusters in M31: I. A Catalog and a Study of the Young Clusters
• The spectroscopic orbit and the geometry of R Aqr
• Eclipsing binaries suitable for distance determination in the Andromeda galaxy
• Lynds 1622: a nearby star forming cloud projected on Orion B?
• Discovery of the first symbiotic star in NGC6822
• Comparing Symbiotic Nebulae and Planetary Nebulae Luminosity Functions

Cited by in corpus (14)

• A census of symbiotic stars in the 2MASS, WISE and Gaia surveys
• Distinguishing between symbiotic stars and planetary nebulae
• A Survey of the Local Group of Galaxies for Symbiotic Binary Stars. I. First detection of symbiotic stars in M33
• Discovery of true, likely and possible symbiotic stars in the dwarf spheroidal NGC 205
• Symbiotic stars in the era of modern ground- and space-based surveys
• OGLE-SMC-LPV-00861 (LIN 9): the first proven Z And outburst in a Magellanic symbiotic star
• The formation of the magnetic symbiotic star FN Sgr
• RAMSES II - RAMan Search for Extragalactic Symbiotic Stars. Project concept, commissioning, and early results from the science verification phase
• LMC S154: the first Magellanic symbiotic recurrent nova
• Mapping H$\alpha$-Excess Candidate Point Sources in the Southern Hemisphere Using S-PLUS Data
• Symbiotic Stars in the APOGEE Survey: The Case of LIN 358 and SMC N73 (LIN 445a)
• CXO J004318.8+412016, a steady supersoft X-ray source in M 31
• The survey of Planetary Nebulae in Andromeda (M31): I. Imaging the disk and halo with MegaCam@CFHT
• Comprehensive analysis of a symbiotic candidate V503 Her