IRAS Colors within M31: Evidence for Deficiency of Very Small Grains?

May 1994 • 1994ApJ...426..109X

Authors • Xu, Cong • Helou, George

Abstract • Significant differences are found in the IRAS color-color diagrams of small regions (2' x 2', or 0.4 x 1.8 kpc) within the disk of M31 compared to Galactic cirrus, most noticeably demonstrated by a trend of low 60 to 100 micron surface brightness ratio and high 12 to 25 micron ratio. Based on physical arguments, we conclude that these color differences are best explained by assuming that "very small grains" (but not polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are only half as abundant in M31 as they are in Galactic cirrus. We confirm this conclusion and test its detailed agreement with data by using the phenomenological model of Desert et al. (1990). In particular, we show that the data cannot be explained by postulating weaker UV heating in the disk of M31. We also show that the VSG-deficient model predicts correctly the correspondence between the IRAS colors and the 100 micron emissivity per H I atom in the outer disk of M31. "Very small grains" are a leading candidate for the carrier of the 2175 A bump in the extinction curve. Our suggested VSG deficiency in M31 is thus consistent with recent HST observations which show evidence for a weaker and narrower 2175 A bump on the M31 extinction curve. Some speculation is offered as to possible links between very small grains and the low rate of current star formation in M31.

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George Helou

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