AMIGA: The Circumgalactic Medium of Andromeda

We find that SiIII and OVI have a covering factor near unity for R<~1.2R_vir_ and <~1.9R_vir_, respectively, demonstrating that M31 has a very extended ~104-105.5K ionized CGM. The metal and baryon masses of the 104-105.5K CGM gas within R_vir_ are >~108 and >~4x1010 (Z/0.3Z{sun})-1M{sun}, respectively. There is not much azimuthal variation in the column densities or kinematics, but there is with R. The CGM gas at R<~0.5R_vir_ is more dynamic and has more complicated, multiphase structures than at larger radii, perhaps a result of more direct impact of galactic feedback in the inner regions of the CGM.

Several absorbers are projected spatially and kinematically close to M31 dwarf satellites, but we show that those are unlikely to give rise to the observed absorption. Cosmological zoom simulations of ~L* galaxies have OVI extending well beyond R_vir_ as observed for M31 but do not reproduce well the radial column density profiles of the lower ions. However, some similar trends are also observed, such as the lower ions showing a larger dispersion in column density and stronger dependence on R than higher ions.

Based on our findings, it is likely that the Milky Way has a ~104-105.5K CGM as extended as for M31 and their CGM (especially the warm-hot gas probed by OVI) are overlapping.