An updated catalog of M31 globular-like clusters: UBVRI photometry, ages, and masses

TL;DR

This study provides an updated catalog of 970 objects in M31, including photometry, ages, and masses, revealing recent star formation and the spatial distribution of clusters, with implications for their longevity.

Contribution

It offers an updated, comprehensive photometric catalog of M31 clusters with derived ages and masses, highlighting recent star formation and cluster disruption timescales.

Findings

Approximately half of the clusters are younger than 2 Gyr.

Young clusters in the disk are unlikely to survive beyond a few Gyr.

Old clusters (>10 Gyr) are mainly in the halo and bulge.

Abstract

We present an updated UBVRI photometric catalog containing 970 objects in the field of M31, selected from the Revised Bologna Catalog (RBC v.4.0), including 965, 967, 965, 953, and 827 sources in the individual UBVRI bands, respectively, of which 205, 123, 14, 126, and 109 objects do not have previously published photometry. Photometry is performed using archival images from the Local Group Galaxies Survey, which covers 2.2 deg^2 along the major axis of M31. We focus on 445 confirmed `globular-like' clusters and candidates, comprising typical globular and young massive clusters. The ages and masses of these objects are derived by comparison of their observed spectral-energy distributions with simple stellar population synthesis. Approximately half of the clusters are younger than 2 Gyr, suggesting that there has been significant recent active star formation in M31, which is consistent with previous results. We note that clusters in the halo (r_ projected>30kpc) are composed of two different components, older clusters with ages >10 Gyr and younger clusters with ages around 1 Gyr. The spatial distributions show that the young clusters (<2 Gyr) are spatially coincident with the galaxy's disk, including the `10 kpc ring,' the `outer ring,' and the halo of M31, while the old clusters (> 2 Gyr) are spatially correlated with the bulge and halo. We also estimate the masses of the 445 confirmed clusters and candidates in M31 and find that our estimates agree well with previously published values. We find that none of the young disk clusters can survive the inevitable encounters with giant molecular clouds in the galaxy's disk and that they will eventually disrupt on timescales of a few Gyr. Specifically, young disk clusters with a mass of 10^4 M_\odot are expected to dissolve within 3.0 Gyr and will, thus, not evolve to become globular clusters.