Spatially Resolved Metal Loss from M31

Abstract

As galaxies evolve, they must enrich and exchange gas with the surrounding medium, but the timing of these processes and how much gas is involved remain poorly understood. In this work, we leverage metals as tracers of past gas flows to constrain the history of metal ejection and redistribution in M31. This roughly $L\ast$ galaxy is a unique case where spatially resolved measurements of the gas-phase and stellar metallicity, dust extinction, and neutral ISM gas content are all available, enabling a census of the present metal mass. We combine spatially resolved star formation histories from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury survey with a metal production model to calculate the history of metal production in M31. We find that $1.8\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$ of metals, or 62\% of the metal mass formed within $r<19\mathrm{kpc}$, is missing from the disk in our fiducial model, implying that the M31 disk has experienced significant gaseous outflows over its lifetime. Under a conservative range of model assumptions, we find that between 3\% and 88\% of metals have been lost ($1.9\times 10^7-6.4\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$), so metals are missing even when all model parameters are chosen to favor metal retention. We show that the missing metal mass could be harbored in M31's CGM if the majority of the metals reside in a hot gas phase. Finally, we find that some metal mass produced in the past 1.5 Gyr in the central $\sim 5\mathrm{kpc}$ has likely been redistributed to larger radii within the disk.

arXiv commentIn press at ApJ; updated to match published version. Figure 7 shows key result

References in corpus (95)

• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance
• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Parameter Results
• PARSEC: stellar tracks and isochrones with the PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code
• The Origin of the Mass--Metallicity Relation: Insights from 53,000 Star-Forming Galaxies in the SDSS
• MESA Isochrones and Stellar Tracks (MIST). I: Solar-Scaled Models
• The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor
• Infrared Emission from Interstellar Dust. IV. The Silicate-Graphite-PAH Model in the Post-Spitzer Era
• Evolution of asymptotic giant branch stars II. Optical to far-infrared isochrones with improved TP-AGB models
• Metallicity Calibrations and the Mass-Metallicity Relation for Star-Forming Galaxies
• Physical Models of Galaxy Formation in a Cosmological Framework
• A large stellar evolution database for population synthesis studies. I. Scaled solar models and isochrones
• Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Spectra of z~3 Lyman Break Galaxies
• Using Strong Lines to Estimate Abundances in Extragalactic HII Regions and Starburst Galaxies
• The Circumgalactic Medium
• Virial shocks in galactic haloes?
• The Structure and Kinematics of the Circum-Galactic Medium from Far-UV Spectra of z~2-3 Galaxies
• Modeling the Panchromatic Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
• Observational clues to the progenitors of Type-Ia supernovae
• Theoretical Challenges in Galaxy Formation
• Updated stellar yields from Asymptotic Giant Branch models
• The Dawes Review 2: Nucleosynthesis and stellar yields of low and intermediate-mass single stars
• Gusty, gaseous flows of FIRE: galactic winds in cosmological simulations with explicit stellar feedback
• Cosmological Simulations of Intergalactic Medium Enrichment from Galactic Outflows
• Ubiquitous outflows in DEEP2 spectra of star-forming galaxies at z=1.4
• The COS-Halos Survey: Physical Conditions and Baryonic Mass in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium
• The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor From Infrared Dust Emission Across the Local Group
• Numerical Methods of Star Formation History Measurement and Applications to Seven Dwarf Spheroidals
• Mass, Metal, and Energy Feedback in Cosmological Simulations
• Riding the Spiral Waves: Implications of Stellar Migration for the Properties of Galactic Disks
• The Cosmic Baryon Cycle and Galaxy Mass Assembly in the FIRE Simulations
• Chemical yields from low- and intermediate-mass stars: model predictions and basic observational constraints
• Quantifying the uncertainties of chemical evolution studies. II. Stellar yields
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury
• Gas metallicity diagnostics in star-forming galaxies
• Evidence for Ubiquitous Collimated Galactic-Scale Outflows along the Star-Forming Sequence at z~0.5
• The Metal Content of Dwarf Starburst Winds: Results from Chandra Observations of NGC 1569
• unWISE: unblurred coadds of the WISE imaging
• The Discovery of 1000 km/s Outflows in Massive Post-starburst Galaxies at z=0.6
• The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury IX. Constraining asymptotic giant branch evolution with old metal-poor galaxies
• A Budget and Accounting of Metals at z~0: Results from the COS-Halos Survey
• Type-Ia supernova rates and the progenitor problem, a review
• Galaxy Masses
• The COS-Halos Survey: Metallicities in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium
• The Mass-Metallicity relation explored with CALIFA: I. Is there a dependence on the star formation rate?
• The Metallicity of Galaxy Disks: Infall versus Outflow
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury X. Ultraviolet to Infrared Photometry of 117 Million Equidistant Stars
• Constraints on star-formation driven galaxy winds from the mass-metallicity relation at z=0
• The Bimodal Metallicity Distribution of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium at z<1
• The long bar as seen by the VVV survey: I. Colour-magnitude diagrams
• Stellar mass map and dark matter distribution in M31
• Do Hot Haloes Around Galaxies Contain the Missing Baryons?
• The Luminosity Profile and Structural Parameters of the Andromeda Galaxy
• In-N-Out: the gas cycle from dwarfs to spiral galaxies
• The Nature of Starbursts: I. The Star Formation Histories of Eighteen Nearby Starburst Dwarf Galaxies
• Molecular gas in the Andromeda galaxy
• Tracing Inflows and Outflows with Absorption Lines in Circumgalactic Gas
• A Census of Oxygen in Star-Forming Galaxies: An Empirical Model Linking Metallicities, Star Formation Rates and Outflows
• A Wide-field High Resolution HI Mosaic of Messier 31: I. Opaque Atomic Gas and Star Formation Rate Density
• Planck intermediate results. XXIX. All-sky dust modelling with Planck, IRAS, and WISE observations
• A 2-3 billion year old major merger paradigm for the Andromeda galaxy and its outskirts
• Radial Mixing in Galactic Disks: The Effects of Disk Structure and Satellite Bombardment
• Metal-enriched galactic outflows shape the mass-metallicity relationship
• Chemical abundances in M31 from HII regions
• The Andromeda galaxy's most important merger about 2 billion years ago as M32's likely progenitor
• Modern yields per stellar generation: the effect of the IMF
• A dynamical model of the local cosmic expansion
• Evidence for a Massive, Extended Circumgalactic Medium Around the Andromeda Galaxy
• The metallicity profile of M31 from spectroscopy of hundreds of HII regions and PNe
• On the Estimation of Systematic Uncertainties of Star Formation Histories
• Metal Transport to the Gaseous Outskirts of Galaxies
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury VIII: A Wide-Area, High-Resolution Map of Dust Extinction in M31
• On the Estimation of Random Uncertainties of Star Formation Histories
• The BaSTI Stellar Evolution Database: models for extremely metal-poor and super-metal-rich stellar populations
• A clear age-velocity dispersion correlation in Andromeda's stellar disk
• Metals Removed by Outflows from Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• Tracing Outflowing Metals in Simulations of Dwarf and Spiral Galaxies
• Low and intermediate mass star yields: The evolution of carbon abundances
• The effect of variations in the input physics on the cosmic distribution of metals predicted by simulations
• Metal Mixing and Ejection in Dwarf Galaxies is Dependent on Nucleosynthetic Source
• Leo P: How Many Metals can a Very Low-Mass, Isolated Galaxy Retain?
• Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury XII. Mapping Stellar Metallicity Distributions in M31
• On the environments of type Ia supernovae within host galaxies
• A Global Star Forming Episode in M31 2-4 Gyr Ago
• Galaxy gas flows inferred from a detailed, spatially resolved metal budget
• The stellar populations of the central region of M31
• How old are SN Ia Progenitor Systems? New Observational Constraints on the Distribution of Time Delays from GALEX
• Stellar Stream and Halo Structure in the Andromeda Galaxy From a Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey
• Type Ia Supernovae: Colors, Rates, and Progenitors
• Stellar Metallicity Gradients in SDSS galaxies
• Precision Pollution - The effects of enrichment yields and timing on galactic chemical evolution

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Project AMIGA: The Circumgalactic Medium of Andromeda
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) I. Ultraviolet to Infrared Photometry of 22 Million Stars in M33
• The First Maps of ${\kappa }_d$ -- the Dust Mass Absorption Coefficient -- in Nearby Galaxies, with DustPedia
• Rejuvenated galaxies with very old bulges at the origin of the bending of the main sequence and of the "green valley"
• How Do Supernovae Impact the Circumgalactic Medium? I. Large-Scale Fountains Around a Milky Way-Like Galaxy
• On the origin of the mass-metallicity gradient relation in the local Universe
• The Quest for the Missing Dust: II -- Two Orders of Magnitude of Evolution in the Dust-to-Gas Ratio Resolved Within Local Group Galaxies
• Uncertainties in supernova input rates drive qualitative differences in simulations of galaxy evolution
• The interplay between feedback, accretion, transport and winds in setting gas-phase metal distribution in galaxies
• Characterizing the Circumgalactic Medium of the Lowest-Mass Galaxies: A Case Study of IC 1613
• Oxygen yields as a constraint on feedback processes in galaxies
• Tentative Detection of the Circumgalactic Medium of the Isolated Low-Mass Dwarf Galaxy WLM
• Oxygen Loss from Simulated Galaxies and the Metal Flow Main Sequence: Predicting the Dependence on Mass and Environment
• Resolved SPLASH Chemodynamics in Andromeda's PHAT Stellar Halo and Disk: On the Nature of the Inner Halo Along the Major Axis
• Upper Limits on the Mass of Cool Gas in the Circumgalactic Medium of Dwarf Galaxies
• Testing the Momentum-driven Supernova Feedback Paradigm in M31
• Quokka-based understanding of outflows (QED) -- II. X-ray metallicity gradients as a signature of galactic wind metal loading
• The circum-galactic medium of quasars: transverse and line-of-sight absorptions