Deep J,H, and K ^ { \prime } images , recorded with the ALTAIR adaptive optics system and NIRI imager on Gemini North , are used to probe the stellar content of the disk and bulge of the Local Group galaxy M31 .
With FWHM near 0.08 arcsec in K , these are the highest angular resolution near-infrared images yet obtained of this galaxy .
One field samples the outer disk of M31 at a galactocentric distance of roughly 62 arcmin along the major axis .
The mean metallicity in this field is close to that of the metal-rich globular cluster NGC 6528 , and no stars with [ Fe/H ] < -0.7 are detected .
Another field , located on the major axis 9 arcmin from the galaxy center , contains a roughly equal mix of disk and bulge stars .
The RGB in this field is redder than that of NGC 6528 , although it is argued that reddening internal to M31 may be significant in this region of the galaxy .
The remaining two fields , located at projected galactocentric distances of 2 and 4 arcmin , are dominated by bulge stars .
The RGB-tip occurs between K = 17.0 and 17.2 , and the color of the RGB in the field closest to the center of M31 is consistent with that of NGC 6528 .
After accounting for random photometric errors , the upper RGB in each field has a width on the ( K,J - K ) CMDs that is consistent with a \pm 0.5 dex dispersion in [ Fe/H ] , in rough agreement with what is seen in other disk and spheroid fields in M31 .
The number of bright AGB and RGB stars also scales with the r - band surface brightness in all four fields .
Thus , we conclude that the stellar content does not change markedly from field-to-field , and that the photometric properties of the brightest AGB stars in the two innermost fields are not affected significantly by crowding .
The brightest star has M _ { K } = -8.6 and M _ { bol } = -5.2 , although this may not be a reliable measure of the AGB-tip brightness due to photometric variability .

A population of very bright red stars , which we identify as C stars , are seen in the three fields that are closest to the center of M31 .
The spatial distribution of these objects suggest that they are well mixed throughout this part of M31 , and so likely did not form in a compact region near the galactic nucleus , but more probably formed in the inner disk .
We speculate that these C stars may be the most luminous members of the intermediate age population that has been detected previously in studies of the integrated spectrum of the central regions of M31 .