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K. M. Perrett, D. A. Hanes (Queen's University), T. J. Bridges (Anglo-Australian Observatory), M. Irwin (IoA Cambridge), D. Carter (Liverpool JMU), J. P. Huchra (CfA Harvard), J. P. Brodie (Lick Observatory), F. G. Watson (Anglo-Australian Observatory)
With the aim of distinguishing between various models describing the formation of galaxy halos (e.g. radial collapse, chaotic mergers), we have undertaken a spectroscopic study of the globular cluster system of M31. We have obtained deep, intermediate-resolution, fibre-optic spectroscopic data for several hundred of the M31 globular clusters using the fibre-fed spectrograph (WYFFOS) at the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma, Canary Islands.
These observations have yielded precise (±12 km/s) radial velocities for over 200 members of the M31 globular cluster population out to a radius of 1.5 degrees from the galaxy centre. Many of these clusters have no previously published radial velocity or [Fe/H] estimates, and the remainder represent significant improvements over pre-existing results. Ultimately, these results will allow us to search for the presence of substructure in position-velocity-metallicity parameter space, thus providing insight into formation and/or enrichment processes which have occurred in the halo of M31.