The detailed chemical abundance patterns of M31 globular clusters

Abstract

We present detailed chemical abundances for <20 elements in ∼30 globular clusters in M31. These results have been obtained using high resolution (λ/Δλ ∼24,000) spectra of their integrated light and analyzed using our original method. The globular clusters have galactocentric radii between 2.5 kpc and 117 kpc, and therefore provide abundance patterns for different phases of galaxy formation recorded in the inner and outer halo of M31. We find that the clusters in our survey have a range in metallicity of -2.2 < -0.11. The inner halo clusters cover this full range, while the outer halo globular clusters at R>20 kpc have a small range in abundance of [Fe/H]= -1.6±0.10. We also measure abundances of alpha, r- and s-process elements. These results constitute the first abundance pattern constraints for old populations in M31 that are comparable to those known for the Milky Way halo. © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence.