Dense gas tracing the collisional past of Andromeda. An atypical inner region?

TL;DR

This study uses new molecular gas observations in Andromeda's center to investigate its collisional history, revealing dense, clumpy gas consistent with a recent starburst likely caused by a head-on collision 200 million years ago.

Contribution

It provides detailed molecular gas measurements and analysis in Andromeda's core, supporting the collision-induced starburst scenario with new observational evidence.

Findings

Dense gas traced by CO isotopes and dense gas tracers.

Gas is very clumpy with a low beam filling factor.

Evidence of recent starburst activity from isotope ratios.

Abstract

The central kiloparsec region of the Andromeda galaxy is relatively gas poor, while the interstellar medium appears to be concentrated in a ring-like structure at about 10 kpc radius. The central gas depletion has been attributed to a possible head-on collision 200 Myr ago, supported by the existence of an offset inner ring of warm dust. We present new IRAM 30m radio telescope observations of the molecular gas in the central region, and the detection of CO and its isotopes $^{13}$CO(2-1) and C$^{18}$O(2-1), together with the dense gas tracers, HCN(1-0) and HCO+(1-0). A systematic study of the observed peak temperatures with non-LTE equilibrium simulations shows that the detected lines trace dense regions with n$_{H_2}$ in the range 2.5 $10^4 - 5.6 10^5$ cm$^{-3}$, while the gas is very clumpy with a beam filling factor of 0.5-2 10$^{-2}$. This is compatible with the dust mass derived from the far-infrared emission, assuming a dust-to-gas mass ratio of 0.01 with a typical clump size of 2 pc. We also show that the gas is optically thin in all lines except for $^{12}$CO(1-0) and $^{12}$CO(2-1), CO lines are close to their thermal equilibrium condition at 17.5-20 K, the molecular hydrogen density is larger than critical and HCN and HCO+ lines have a subthermal excitation temperature of 9 K with a density smaller than critical. The average $^{12}$CO/$^{13}$CO line ratio is high (~21), and close to the $^{12}$CO/C$^{18}$O ratio (~30) that was measured in the north-western region and estimated in the south-east stacking. The fact that the optically thin $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O lines have comparable intensities means that the secondary element $^{13}$C is depleted with respect to the primary $^{12}$C, as is expected just after a recent star formation. This suggests that there has been a recent starburst in the central region, supporting the head-on collision scenario.