First Extragalactic Detection of Thermal Hydroxyl (OH) 18cm Emission in M31 Reveals Abundant CO-faint Molecular Gas

Abstract

The most abundant interstellar molecule, molecular Hydrogen (H$_{2}$), is practically invisible in cold molecular clouds. Astronomers typically use carbon monoxide (CO) to trace the bulk distribution and mass of H$_{2}$ in our galaxy and many others. CO observations alone fail to trace a massive component of molecular gas known as "CO-dark" gas. We present an ultra sensitive pilot search for the 18cm hydroxyl (OH) lines in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with the 100m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. We successfully detected the 1667 and 1665 MHz OH in faint emission. The 1665/1667 MHz line ratio is consistent with the characteristic 5:9 ratio associated with local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). To our knowledge, this is the first detection of non-maser 18cm OH emission in another galaxy. We compare our OH and HI observations with archival CO (1-0) observations. Our OH detection position overlaps with the previously discovered Arp Outer Arm in CO. Our best estimates show that the amount of H$_{2}$ traced by OH is 140% higher than the amount traced by CO in this sightline. We show that the amount of dark molecular gas implied by dust data supports this conclusion. We conclude that the 18cm OH lines hold promise as a valuable tool for mapping of the "CO-dark" and "CO-faint" molecular gas phase in nearby galaxies, especially with upcoming multi-beam, phased-array feed receivers on radio telescopes which will allow for drastically improved mapping speeds of faint signals.