Talk Title: Investigating the Star Formation History of the M31 Disk
Abstract: The star formation history of the M31 disk is explored using BVI stellar photometry measured from the HST archive and from the wide-field, ground-based images of the KPNO/CTIO Local Group Survey (Massey et al. 2001). The stellar age distributions, distances and mean reddening values have been determined for hundreds of locations in the disk using the statistical color-magnitude diagram matching routines of Dolphin (1997, 2002). The star formation histories reveal a lack of old, metal-poor stars and a global decrease in the star formation rate over the past ~1 Gyr. In recent epochs, star formation appears episodic and confined mainly to regions of high gas content. There is also a suggestion of star formation propagation through some active areas of the disk. The implications of these results for the evolution of the M31 disk will be discussed.
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