Is There a Metallicity Ceiling to Form Carbon Stars?—A Novel Technique Reveals a Scarcity of C stars in the Inner M31 Disk
Dalcanton, J. J.; Girardi, L.; Boyer, M. L.; Olsen, K. A. G.; Marigo, P.; Weisz, D. R.; Guhathakurta, P.; Williams, B. F.; Aringer, B.; Melbourne, J. L.; Nowotny, W.; Rosenfield, P.; Dorman, C. E.
United States, Italy, Austria
Abstract
We use medium-band near-infrared (NIR) Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 photometry with model NIR spectra of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars to develop a new tool for efficiently distinguishing carbon-rich (C-type) AGB stars from oxygen-rich (M-type) AGB stars in galaxies at the edge of and outside the Local Group. We present the results of a test of this method on a region of the inner disk of M31, where we find a surprising lack of C stars, contrary to the findings of previous C star searches in other regions of M31. We find only one candidate C star (plus up to six additional, less certain C star candidates), resulting in an extremely low ratio of C to M stars (C/M = (3.3^{+20}_{-0.1})\times 10^{-4}) that is one to two orders of magnitude lower than other C/M estimates in M31. The low C/M ratio is likely due to the high metallicity in this region which impedes stars from achieving C/O > 1 in their atmospheres. These observations provide stringent constraints to evolutionary models of metal-rich AGB stars and suggest that there is a metallicity threshold above which M stars are unable to make the transition to C stars, dramatically affecting AGB mass loss and dust production and, consequently, the observed global properties of metal-rich galaxies.
Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the Data Archive at the STScI, which is operated by the AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.