The survey of planetary nebulae in Andromeda (M 31) V. Chemical enrichment of the thin and thicker discs of Andromeda. Oxygen to argon abundance ratios for planetary nebulae and H II regions

TL;DR

This study uses oxygen and argon abundances in planetary nebulae and H II regions of Andromeda to investigate the galaxy's disc chemical enrichment, star formation history, and differences from the Milky Way.

Contribution

It introduces a method to constrain star formation histories of M31's discs using the oxygen-to-argon ratio across different stellar populations.

Findings

Inner M31 disc experienced a second infall of metal-poor gas during a satellite merger.

Thin disc is younger, less extended, and formed stars more efficiently than the thicker disc.

Both discs reach similar high argon abundances despite different formation histories.

Abstract

We use oxygen and argon abundances for planetary nebulae (PNe) with low internal extinction (progenitor ages of (>4.5 Gyr) and high extinction (progenitor ages <2.5 Gyr), as well as those of the H II regions, to constrain the chemical enrichment and star formation efficiency in the thin and thicker discs of M31. The argon element is produced in larger fraction by Type Ia supernovae (SNe) than oxygen. We find that the mean log(O/Ar) values of PNe as a function of their argon abundances, 12 + log(Ar/H), trace the inter-stellar matter (ISM) conditions at the time of birth of the M 31 disc PN progenitors. Thus the chemical enrichment and star formation efficiency information encoded in the [alpha/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] distribution of stars is also imprinted in the oxygen-to-argon abundance ratio log(O/Ar) vs. argon abundance for the nebular emissions of the different stellar evolution phases. We propose to use the log(O/Ar) vs. (12 + log(Ar/H)) distribution of PNe with different ages to constrain the star-formation histories of the parent stellar populations in the thin and thicker M31 discs. For the inner M31 disc (R_{GC} < 14 kpc), the chemical evolution model that reproduces the mean log(O/Ar) values as function of argon abundance for the high- and low-extinction PNe requires a second infall of metal poorer gas during a gas-rich (wet) satellite merger. In M31, the thin disc is younger and less radially extended, formed stars at a higher star formation efficiency, and had a faster chemical enrichment timescale than the more extended, thicker disc. Both the thin and thicker disc in M31 reach similar high argon abundances ( 12 + log(Ar/H) ) ~ 6.7. The chemical and structural properties of the thin/thicker discs in M31 are thus remarkably different from those determined for the Milky Way thin and thick discs.