Evidence of Stellar Substructures on the Near-infrared Image of M31 System

Hierarchical merging scenario indicates that galaxies go through major and minor merger events during their formation and evolution. As a result of the merging, substructural features of remnants such as stellar stream are shown around a current galaxy system. To find evidence of stellar substructures on M31 system, we used the near-infrared images of JHK filters obtained from the Wide Field Camera (WFCAM) at UKIRT 3.8m. A total sky coverage is an area of about$ 4.5^{\circ}{\times}6^{\circ}$ around M31. Indeed, M31 system which consists of several satellite systems contains stellar substructures such as giant stellar stream, loops, and spurs. By analysing stellar populations on the near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams, we selected member star candidates of each stellar substructure, from which we map out spatial distribution of stars in the vicinity of M31 system. Here, we present spatial density distribution maps of stars on each substructure over the entire field of M31 system. Also, we discuss the possible origin of the substructures and the implications on the galaxy assembly process.