Infrared Survey of Pulsating Giant Stars in the Spiral Galaxy M33: Dust Production, Star Formation History, and Galactic Structure

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared monitoring of M33 to identify pulsating giant stars, analyze their distribution for star formation history, and measure their dust production rates, providing insights into galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It presents a novel near-IR survey of M33's pulsating giants, linking their properties to star formation and dust production in a detailed manner.

Findings

Star formation history derived for the central kiloparsec of M33.

Dust production rates of pulsating giants measured using combined IR data.

Distribution of pulsating giants informs galaxy structure and evolution.

Abstract

We introduce a near-IR monitoring campaign of the Local Group spiral galaxy M33, carried out with the UK IR Telescope (UKIRT). The pulsating giant stars are identified and their distributions are used to derive the star formation rate as a function of age. We here present the star formation history for the central square kiloparsec. These stars are also important dust factories; we measure their dust production rates from a combination of our data with Spitzer Space Telescope mid-IR photometry.