Photometric evidence of an intermediate-age stellar population in the inner bulge of M31

Abstract

We explore the assembly history of the M31 bulge within a projected major-axis radius of 180 arcsec (∼680 pc) by studying its stellar populations in Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys observations. Colours formed by comparing near-ultraviolet versus optical bands are found to become bluer with increasing major-axis radius, which is opposite to that predicted if the sole sources of near-ultraviolet light were old extreme horizontal branch stars with a negative radial gradient in metallicity. Spectral energy distribution fits require a metal-rich intermediate-age stellar population (300 Myr to 1 Gyr old, ∼Z_⊙) in addition to the dominant old population. The radial gradients in age and metallicity of the old stellar population are consistent with those in previous works. For the intermediate-age population, we find an increase in age with radius and a mass fraction that increases up to 2 per cent at 680 pc away from the centre. We exclude contamination from the M31 disc and/or halo as the main origin for this population. Our results thus suggest that intermediate-age stars exist beyond the central 5 arcsec (19 pc) of M31 and contribute ∼1 per cent of the total stellar mass in the bulge. These stars could be related to the secular growth of the M31 bulge.