Elemental Abundances in And XIX from Coadded Spectra

With a luminosity similar to that of Milky Way dwarf spheroidal systems like Sextans, but a spatial extent similar to that of ultra-diffuse galaxies, Andromeda (And) XIX is an unusual satellite of M31. To investigate the origin of this galaxy, we measure chemical abundances for And XIX derived from medium-resolution (R ∼ 6000) spectra from the Deep Extragalactic Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Keck II telescope. We coadd 79 red giant branch stars, grouped by photometric metallicity, in order to obtain a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio to measure 20 [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] abundances via spectral synthesis. The latter are the first such measurements for And XIX. The mean metallicity we derive for And XIX places it ∼2σ higher than the present-day stellar mass–metallicity relation for Local Group dwarf galaxies, potentially indicating it has experienced tidal stripping. A loss of gas and associated quenching during such a process, which prevents the extended star formation necessary to produce shallow [α/Fe]–[Fe/H] gradients in massive systems, is also consistent with the steeply decreasing [α/Fe]–[Fe/H] trend we observe. In combination with the diffuse structure and disturbed kinematic properties of And XIX, this suggests tidal interactions, rather than galaxy mergers, are strong contenders for its formation.