Elemental abundance ratios for the bulge of M31

TL;DR

This study investigates the chemical composition and abundance ratios in the bulge of M31, revealing detailed element enhancements and suggesting a rapid, intense star formation history with complex enrichment processes.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed radial abundance profiles for multiple elements in M31's bulge using advanced spectral analysis techniques, comparing results with galaxy evolution models.

Findings

O, N, and Na are significantly enhanced across the bulge.

Central regions show steep increases in N and Na abundances.

Chemical patterns resemble those of massive galaxies, with notable N enhancement.

Abstract

We present radial trends of metallicity ([Fe/H]) and abundance ratios ([X/Fe]) for several chemical elements -- including C, N, Na, and the so-called alpha-elements (O, Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti) -- in the bulge of M31, out to ~0.6kpc from the center. We estimated abundances using full-spectrum fitting, full-index fitting, and line-strength analysis, in combination with different stellar population models. We first tested these techniques on mock spectra and SDSS stacked spectra of ETGs, and then applied them to high-quality long-slit spectroscopy of the M31 bulge obtained with the OSIRIS spectrograph at the GTC. We find that O, N, and Na are significantly enhanced relative to Fe across the bulge, with typical abundances >0.3~dex. In particular, N and Na show steep central enhancements, reaching ~0.5dex. C, Mg, and Si exhibit intermediate enhancements of [X/Fe]~0.2dex, with C and Mg decreasing toward the center to <~0.1dex; while Ca, and to a lesser extent Ti, closely follow Fe, with [X/Fe]<0.1dex. Applying the same analysis to SDSS stacked spectra of ETGs revealed that the abundance pattern of the M31 bulge closely resembles that of the most massive galaxies, except for N, which is significantly more enhanced (by ~0.1dex) in the bulge. For the bulk of the bulge, chemical evolution models assuming high star-formation efficiency and a short gas infall timescale reproduce the overall trends in [Fe/H] and [X/Fe]. In the central region (<~100pc), the high metallicity content of the bulge can be explained by either an IMF flatter than Salpeter at high mass, or a prolonged star formation. Additional processes, such as differential galactic winds, appear necessary to account for the observed decoupling among alpha elements and the strong central N enhancement. Our results support a scenario whereby the bulk of the M31 bulge formed during a fast and intense episode of star formation.