Optical Extinctions of Inter-Arm Molecular Clouds in M31: A Pilot Study for the Upcoming CSST Observations

Abstract Recent Submillimeter dust thermal emission observations have unveiled a significant number of inter-arm massive molecular clouds in M31. However, the effectiveness of this technique is limited to its sensitivity, making it challenging to study more distant galaxies. This study introduces an alternative approach, utilizing optical extinctions derived from space-based telescopes, with a focus on the forthcoming China Space Station Telescope (CSST). We first demonstrate the capability of this method by constructing dust extinction maps for 17 inter-arm massive molecular clouds in M31 using the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) data. Our analysis reveals that inter-arm massive molecular clouds with an optical extinction (AV) greater than 1.6 magnitudes exhibit a notable AV excess, facilitating their identification. The majority of these inter-arm massive molecular clouds show an AV around 1 magnitude, aligning with measurements from our JCMT data. Further validation using a mock CSST RGB star catalog confirms the method’s effectiveness. We show that the derived AV values using CSST z and y photometries align more closely with the input values. Molecular clouds with AV > 1.6 can also be identified using the CSST mock data. We thus claim that future CSST observation cloud provide an effective way for the detection of inter-arm massive molecular clouds with significant optical extinction in nearby galaxies.