The nature of the interstellar medium of the starburst low-metallicity galaxy Haro11: a multi-phase model of the infrared emission
D. Cormier, V. Lebouteiller, S. C. Madden, N. Abel, S. Hony, F. Galliano, M. Baes, M. J. Barlow, A. Cooray, I. De Looze, M. Galametz, O. L. Karczewski, T. J. Pa… 展开作者
D. Cormier, V. Lebouteiller, S. C. Madden, N. Abel, S. Hony, F. Galliano, M. Baes, M. J. Barlow, A. Cooray, I. De Looze, M. Galametz, O. L. Karczewski, T. J. Parkin, A. Remy, M. Sauvage, L. Spinoglio, C. D. Wilson, R. Wu
备注:
Accepted for publication in A&A, 23 pages, 13 figures
(abridged) Our goal is to describe the multi-phase ISM of the IR bright low-metallicity galaxy Haro 11, dissecting the photoionised and photodissociated gas components. We present observations of the mid- and far-IR fine-structure cooling lines obtained with the Spitzer/IRS and Herschel/PACS spectrometers. We use the spectral synthesis code Cloudy to methodically model the ionised and neutral gas from which these lines originate. We find that the mid- and far-IR lines account for ~1% of the total IR luminosity L_TIR. Haro 11 is undergoing a phase of intense star formation, as traced by the brightest line [OIII] 88um, with L_[OIII]/L_TIR ~0.3%, and high ratios of [NeIII]/[NeII] and [SIV]/[SIII]. Due to their different origins, the observed lines require a multi-phase modeling comprising: a compact HII region, dense fragmented photodissociation regions (PDRs), a diffuse extended low-ionisation/neutral gas which has a volume filling factor of at least 90%, and porous warm dust in proximity to the stellar source. For a more realistic picture of the ISM of Haro 11 we would need to model the clumpy source and gas structures. We combine these 4 model components to explain the emission of 17 spectral lines, investigate the global energy balance of the galaxy through its spectral energy distribution, and establish a phase mass inventory. While the ionic emission lines of Haro 11 essentially originate from the dense HII region component, a diffuse low-ionisation gas is needed to explain the [NeII], [NII], and [CII] line intensities. The [OIII] 88um line intensity is not fully reproduced by our model, hinting towards the possible presence of yet another low-density high-ionisation medium. The [OI] emission is consistent with a dense PDR of low covering factor, and we find no evidence for an X-ray dominated component. The PDR component accounts for only 10% of the [CII] emission.
Most galaxies follow well-defined scaling relations of metallicity (O/H), star formation rate (SFR), and stellar mass. However, low-metallicity starbursts, rare in the Local Universe but more common at high redshift, deviate significantly from these scaling relations. On the "main sequence" of star formation, these galaxies have high SFR for a given M*; and on the mass-metallicity relation, they have excess M* for their low metallicity. In this paper, we characterize O/H, M*, and SFR for these deviant "low-metallicity starbursts", selected from a sample of ~1100 galaxies, spanning almost two o…
Using parsec-resolution simulations of a typical galaxy merger, we study the triggering of starbursts by connecting the (inter-)galactic dynamics to the structure of the interstellar medium. The gravitational encounter between two galaxies enhances tidal compression over large volumes, which increases and modifies the turbulence, in particular its compressive mode with respect to the solenoidal one. This generates an excess of dense gas leading to intense star formation activity. Along the interaction, the compressive turbulence modifies the efficiency of gas-to-star conversion which, in the S…
Scaling relations of metallicity (O/H), star formation rate (SFR), and stellar mass give important insight on galaxy evolution. They are obeyed by most galaxies in the Local Universe and also at high redshift. In a companion paper, we compiled a sample of ~1100 galaxies from redshift 0 to ~3, spanning almost two orders of magnitude in metal abundance, a factor of $\sim10^6$ in SFR, and of ~10^5 in stellar mass. We have characterized empirically the star-formation "main sequence" (SFMS) and the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) for this sample, and also identified a class of low-metallicity starb…
Frequent supernova explosions in compact starburst regions are a main shaper of these regions' interstellar media (ISM). In most starbursts, the supernova remnants blast open a hot phase that fills the regions and launches a superwind. Denser starbursts are too overpressured for hot wind formation, but supernovae still stir up the ISM. I argue that supernovae power ubiquitous turbulence through each of the starburst ISM phases, including the hot wind, and that a fluctuation dynamo amplifies magnetic fields until they are in equipartition with the turbulence. Supernovae can drive turbulence wit…
The question how much star formation is occurring at low metallicity throughout the cosmic history appears crucial for the discussion of the origin of various energetic transients, and possibly - double black hole mergers. We revisit the observation-based distribution of birth metallicities of stars (f$_{\rm SFR}$(Z,z)), focusing on several factors that strongly affect its low metallicity part: (i) the method used to describe the metallicity distribution of galaxies (redshift-dependent mass metallicity relation - MZR, or redshift-invariant fundamental metallicity relation - FMR), (ii) the cont…
We present the evolution of dust and molecular gas properties in a sample of 11 $z\sim0.03$ starburst to post-starburst (PSB) galaxies selected to span an age sequence from ongoing starburst to 1 Gyr after the starburst ended. All PSBs harbour significant molecular gas and dust reservoirs and residual star formation, indicating that complete quenching of the starburst due to exhaustion or expulsion of gas has not occurred during this timespan. As the starburst ages, we observe a clear decrease in the star-formation efficiency, molecular gas and SFR surface density, and effective dust temperatu…
We present the spatially-resolved near-infrared (2.5-5.0 um) spectra of the edge-on starburst galaxy NGC253 obtained with the Infrared Camera onboard AKARI. Near the center of the galaxy, we clearly detect the absorption features of interstellar ices (H_2O: 3.05 um, CO_2: 4.27 um, and XCN: 4.62 um) and the emission of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at 3.29 um and hydrogen recombination line Br alpha at 4.05 um. We find that the distributions of the ices differ from those of the PAH and gas. We calculate the column densities of the ices and derive the abundance ratios of N(CO_2)/N(H_2O…
The extent to which star formation varies in galaxies with low masses, low metallicities, and high star formation rate surface densities is not well-constrained. To gain insight into star formation under these physical conditions, this paper estimates the ionizing photon fluxes, masses, and ages for young massive clusters in the central region of II Zw 40 -- the prototypical low-metallicity dwarf starburst galaxy -- from radio continuum and optical observations. Discrete, cluster-sized sources only account for half the total radio continuum emission; the remainder is diffuse. The young (<5 Myr…
The interstellar medium is a key ingredient that governs star formation in galaxies. We present a detailed study of the infrared (~ 1-500 micron) spectral energy distributions of a large sample of 193 nearby (z ~ 0.088) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) covering a wide range of evolutionary stages along the merger sequence. The entire sample has been observed uniformly by 2MASS, WISE, Spitzer, and Herschel. We perform multi-component decomposition of the spectra to derive physical parameters of the interstellar medium, including the intensity of the interstellar radiation field and the mass a…
In this work, we test the validity of $T_e$ - $T_e$ relations in resolved (10-200~pc) measurements of four nearby, low-metallicity (7.25 $\leq$ 12+log(O/H) $\leq$ 8.33), low-mass (10$^{6.78}$ $\leq$ M$_*$/M$_\odot$ $\leq$ 10$^{8.7}$), starburst (10$^{-4.5}$ $\leq$ sSFR $\leq$ 10$^{-0.3}$) galaxies. We obtain VLT/X-Shooter spectra of NGC~5253, NGC~0625, SBS~0335-052E and IC~2828, targeting regions within these galaxies with bright point-like sources and diffuse gas. Our observations are designed to extend from the galaxy midplane into extraplanar gas likely belonging to galactic winds. We measu…
Dense molecular gas and star formation are correlated in galaxies. The effect of low metallicity on this relationship is crucial for interpreting observations of high redshift galaxies, which have lower metallicities than galaxies today. However, it remains relatively unexplored because dense molecular gas tracers like HCN and HCO+ are faint in low metallicity systems. We present Green Bank Telescope observations of HCN(1-0) and HCO+(1-0) on giant molecular cloud (34pc) scales in the nearby low metallicity ($12+\log({\rm O/H})=8.2$) starburst IC 10 and compare them to those in other galaxies. …
Cold molecular gas distribution and kinematics in the low-metallicity dusty starburst of Mrk 996 resolved with ALMA
Universidad de Talca(塔尔卡大学);Universidad de La Serena(拉塞雷纳大学);Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC(安达卢西亚天体物理学研究所,西班牙国家研究委员会);Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA)(阿拉贡宇宙物理研究中心);University of Michigan(密歇根大学);Space Telescope Science Institute(太空望远镜科学研究所);INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma(意大利国家天体物理研究所罗马天文台)
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 0 Band 7 observations of an extremely metal-poor dwarf starburst galaxy in the Local Universe, SBS0335-052 (12+log(O/H)~7.2). With these observations, dust is detected at 870micron (ALMA Band 7), but 87% of the flux in this band is due to free-free emission from the starburst. We have compiled a spectral energy distribution (SED) of SBS0335-052 that spans almost 6 orders of magnitude in wavelength and fit it with a spherical dust shell heated by a single-age stellar population; the best-fit model gives a dust mass of (3.8+/-0…
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of CO lines and dust continuum emission of the source RCSGA 032727--132609, a young $z=1.7$ low-metallicity starburst galaxy. The CO(3-2) and CO(6-5) lines, and continuum at rest-frame $450\,μm$ are detected and show a resolved structure in the image plane. We use the corresponding lensing model to obtain a source plane reconstruction of the detected emissions revealing intrinsic flux density of $S_{450\,μm}=23.5_{-8.1}^{+26.8}$ $μ$Jy and intrinsic CO luminosities $L'_{\rm CO(3-2)}=2.90_{-0.23}^{+0.21}\times10^{8}$ ${\rm K\,k…
In this paper we discuss and confront recent results on metallicity variations in the local interstellar medium, obtained from observations of HII regions and neutral clouds of the Galactic thin disk, and compare them with recent high-quality metallicity determinations of other tracers of the chemical composition of the interstellar medium as B-type stars, classical Cepheids and young clusters. We find that the metallicity variations obtained for these last kinds of objects are consistent with each other and with that obtained for HII regions but significantly smaller than those obtained for n…
(abridged) NGC 1569 is a nearby dwarf irregular galaxy which underwent an intense burst of star formation 10 to 40 Myr ago. We present observations that reach surface brightnesses two to eighty times fainter than previous radio continuum observations and the first radio continuum polarization observations. These observations allow us to probe the relationship of the magnetic field of NGC 1569 to the rest of its interstellar medium. We confirm the presence of an extended radio continuum halo at 20 cm and see for the first time the radio continuum feature associated with the western Halpha arm a…
X-ray radiation from accreting compact objects is an important part of stellar feedback. The metal-poor galaxy ESO 338-4 has experienced vigorous starburst during the last 40 Myr and contains some of the most massive super star clusters in the nearby Universe. Given its starburst age and its star-formation rate, ESO 338-4 is one of the most efficient nearby manufactures of neutron stars and black holes, hence providing an excellent laboratory for feedback studies. We compared X-ray images and spectra obtained by XMM-Newton and Chandra telescopes with integral field spectroscopic VLT MUSE obser…
(Abridged) The 30 Dor region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the most vigorous star-forming region in the Local Group. Star formation in this region is taking place in low-metallicity molecular gas that is exposed to an extreme far--ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field powered by the massive compact star cluster R136. We used the NANTEN2 telescope to obtain high-angular resolution observations of the 12CO 4-3, 7-6, and 13CO 4-3 rotational lines and [CI] 3P1-3P0 and 3P2-3P1 fine-structure submillimeter transitions in 30Dor-10, the brightest CO and FIR-emitting cloud at the center of the 30D…
Models of galaxy formation predict that gas accretion from the cosmic web is a primary driver of star formation over cosmic history. Except in very dense environments where galaxy mergers are also important, model galaxies feed from cold streams of gas from the web that penetrate their dark matter haloes. Although these predictions are unambiguous, the observational support has been indirect so far. Here we report spectroscopic evidence for this process in extremely metal-poor galaxies (XMPs) of the local Universe, taking the form of localized starbursts associated with gas having low metallic…
Context. Spatially resolved observations of the ionized and molecular gas are critical for understanding the physical processes that govern the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies. Aims. To study the morpho-kinematic properties of the ionized and molecular gas in three dusty starburst galaxies at $z = 0.12-0.17$ to explore the relation between molecular ISM gas phase dynamics and the star-formation activity. Methods. We analyse $\sim$kpc-scale ALMA CO(1--0) and seeing limited SINFONI Paschen-$α$ observations. We use a dynamical mass model, which accounts for beam-smearing effects, to constra…
We study the molecular content and the star formation efficiency of 21 Blue Compact Dwarfs (BCDs). We present CO(1-0) and (2-1) observations, further supplemented with additional CO measurements and multiwavelength ancillary data from the literature. We find the CO luminosity to be correlated with the stellar and HI masses, SFR tracers, the size of the starburst and its metallicity. BCDs appear offset from the Schmidt-Kennicutt (SK) law, showing extremely low ($\lesssim$0.1 Gyr) H2 and H2+HI depletion timescales. The departure from the SK law is smaller when considering H2+HI rather than H2 on…
We fit the near-infrared to radio spectral energy distributions of a sample of 30 luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies with models that include both starburst and AGN components. The aim of the work was to determine important physical parameters for this kind of objects such as the optical depth towards the luminosity source, the star formation rate, the star formation efficiency and the AGN fraction. We found that although about half of our sample have best-fit models that include an AGN component, only 30 % have an AGN which accounts for more than 10 % of the infrared luminosity whe…
Nuclear inflows of metal-poor interstellar gas triggered by galaxy interactions can account for the systematically lower central oxygen abundances observed in local interacting galaxies. Here, we investigate the metallicity evolution of a large set of simulations of colliding galaxies. Our models include cooling, star formation, feedback, and a new stochastic method for tracking the mass recycled back to the interstellar medium from stellar winds and supernovae. We study the influence of merger-induced inflows, enrichment, gas consumption, and galactic winds in determining the nuclear metallic…
We report the detection of the ground state rotational emission of ammonia, ortho-NH$_3$ $(J_K=1_0\rightarrow0_0)$ in a gravitationally lensed, intrinsically hyperluminous, star-bursting galaxy at $z=2.6$. The integrated line profile is consistent with other molecular and atomic emission lines which have resolved kinematics well-modelled by a 5 kpc-diametre rotating disc. This implies that the gas responsible for NH$_3$ emission is broadly tracing the global molecular reservoir, but likely distributed in pockets of high density ($n\gtrsim5\times10^4$ cm$^{-3}$). With a luminosity of $2.8\times…
This lecture reviews the fundamental physical processes involved in star formation in galaxy interactions and mergers. Interactions and mergers often drive intense starbursts, but the link between interstellar gas physics, large scale interactions, and active star formation is complex and not fully understood yet. Two processes can drive starbursts: radial inflows of gas can fuel nuclear starbursts, triggered gas turbulence and fragmentation can drive more extended starbursts in massive star clusters with high fractions of dense gas. Both modes are certainly required to account for the observe…
We study the influence of gas metallicity, turbulence, and non-equilibrium chemistry on the evolution of the two-phase interstellar medium (warm and cold atomic phases), and thereby constrain the initial conditions for star formation prevailing in turbulent gas. We perform high-resolution simulations in three dimensions, including a realistic non-equilibrium treatment of the ionization state of the gas, and examine both driven and decaying turbulence. This allows us to explore variations in the metallicity Z. In this paper, we study solar metallicity, Z=Z_sun, and low metallicity, Z=1d-3 Z_sun…
Observations of both galaxies in the distant Universe and local starbursts are showing increasing evidence for very hard ionizing spectra that stellar population synthesis models struggle to reproduce. Here we explore the effects of the assumed stellar initial mass function (IMF) on the ionizing photon output of young populations at wavelengths below key ionization energy thresholds. We use a custom set of binary population and spectral synthesis (BPASS) models to explore the effects of IMF assumptions as a function of metallicity, IMF slope, upper mass limit, IMF power law break mass and samp…
We argue that the lack of observed damped Lyman alpha (DLA) systems that simultaneously have high HI columns densities and high metallicities results naturally from the formation of molecules in the cold phase of a two-phase atomic medium in pressure balance. Our result applies equally well in diffuse systems where the ultraviolet radiation field is dominated by the extragalactic background and in dense star-forming ones, where the local radiation field is likely to be orders of magnitude higher. We point out that such a radiation-insensitive model is required to explain the absence of high co…
The central star-forming regions in three blue compact dwarf galaxies (He 2-10, NGC 5253, and II Zw 40) were observed in the 340 GHz (880 micron) band at 5 arcsec resolution with the Submillimetre Array (SMA). Continuum emission associated with the central star-forming complex was detected in all these galaxies. The SMA 880 micron flux is decomposed into free-free emission and dust emission by using centimetre-wavelength data in the literature. We find that free-free emission contributes half or more of the SMA 880 micron flux in the central starbursts in those three galaxies. In spite of the …
The Interstellar Medium (ISM) comprises gases at different temperatures and densities, including ionized, atomic, molecular species, and dust particles. The neutral ISM is dominated by neutral hydrogen and has ionization fractions up to 8%. The concentration of chemical elements heavier than helium (metallicity) spans orders of magnitudes in Galactic stars, because they formed at different times. Instead, the gas in the Solar vicinity is assumed to be well mixed and have Solar metallicity in traditional chemical evolution models. The ISM chemical abundances can be accurately measured with UV a…
Green pea galaxies are starbursting, low-mass galaxies that are good analogues to star-forming galaxies in the early universe. We perform a survey of 23 Green Peas using the MUSE Integral Field Unit spectrograph on the VLT to search for companion galaxies. The survey reaches an average point-source depth of $\sim 10^{-18}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ for emission lines. The MUSE field of view allows us to probe a 1$\times$1 arcmin$^2$ field around these galaxies and to search their surroundings for faint companions that could have interacted with them and induced their starburst episodes. We search…
Recent spatially resolved observations of galaxies at z=0.6-3 reveal that high-redshift galaxies show complex kinematics and a broad distribution of gas-phase metallicity gradients. To understand these results, we use a suite of high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project, which include physically motivated models of the multi-phase ISM, star formation, and stellar feedback. Our simulations reproduce the observed diversity of kinematic properties and metallicity gradients, broadly consistent with observations at z=0-3. Strong nega…
Feedback-driven winds from star formation or active galactic nuclei might be a relevant channel for the abrupt quenching star formation in massive galaxies. However, both observations and simulations support the idea that these processes are non-conflictingly co-evolving and self-regulating. Furthermore, evidence of disruptive events that are capable of fast quenching is rare, and constraints on their statistical prevalence are lacking. Here we present a massive starburst galaxy at z=1.4 which is ejecting $46 \pm 13$\% of its molecular gas mass at a startling rate of $\gtrsim 10,000$ M$_{\odot…
We present a semi-analytical description of the relative HD/H2 abundance in the diffuse interstellar medium. We found three asymptotics of the relative HD/H$_2$ abundance for different parts of the medium and their dependence on the physical parameters, namely, number density, intensity of the ultraviolet field, cosmic-ray ionization rate and metallicity. Our calculations are in a good agreement with the full network calculations using Meudon PDR code. We found that in the case of low metallicity and/or higher cosmic ray ionization rate, HD formation rate is significantly enhanced, HD/H2 ratio…
We investigate the impact of bursts in star formation on the predictions of one-zone chemical evolution models, adopting oxygen (O), iron (Fe), and strontium (Sr), as representative $α$, iron-peak, and s-process elements, respectively. To this end, we develop the Versatile Integrator for Chemical Evolution (VICE), a python package. Starbursts driven by a temporary boost of gas accretion rate create loops in [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] evolutionary tracks and a peak in the stellar [O/Fe] distribution at intermediate values. Bursts driven by a temporary boost of star formation efficiency have a similar effect…
We present an extensive CO emission-line survey of the Planck's dusty GEMS, a small set of 11 strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at z = 2-4 discovered with Planck and Herschel satellites, using EMIR on the IRAM 30-m telescope. We detected a total of 45 CO rotational lines from Jup=3 to Jup=11, and up to eight transitions per source, allowing a detailed analysis of the gas excitation and interstellar medium conditions within these extremely bright, vigorous starbursts. We applied radiative transfer models using the large velocity gradient approach to infer the spatially-averaged molecu…
This review describes where we are today in light of the dust and gas properties and their relation to star formation, in low metallicity galaxies of the local universe following recent surveys from sensitive infrared space telescopes, mainly Spitzer and Herschel space observatories as well as ground-based observations of the molecular gas reservoir. Models to interpret the ISM properties are gaining sophistication in order to account for the wide range of valuable observational diagnostics that we have today to trace the different gas phases, the broad range of photometry we have, from mid-in…
This paper investigate what is the main driver of the dust mass growth in the interstellar medium (ISM) by using a chemical evolution model of galaxy with metals (elements heavier than helium) in dust phase in addition to the total amount of metals. We consider asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, type II supernovae (SNe II) and the dust mass growth in the ISM as the sources of dust, and SN shocks as the destruction mechanism of dust. Further, to describe the dust evolution precisely, our model takes into account the age and metallicity (the ratio of metal mass to ISM mass) dependence of the s…
The physical mechanisms for starburst or quenching in less massive ($M_* < 10^{10} M_{\odot}$) galaxies are unclear. The merger is one of the inescapable processes referred to as both starburst and quenching in massive galaxies. However, the effects of the merger on star formation in dwarf galaxies and their evolution results are still uncertain. We aim to explore how to trigger and quench star formation in dwarf galaxies by studying the metal-poor gas-rich dwarf mergers based on the multi-band observations at a spatial resolution of $\sim$ 460 pc. We use the archival data of ALMA (band 3, 8) …
Interstellar ultraviolet absorption-lines provide crucial information about the properties of galactic outflows. In this paper, we augment our previous analysis of the systematic properties of starburst-driven galactic outflows by expanding our sample to include a rare population of starbursts with exceptionally high outflow velocities. In principle, these could be a qualitatively different phenomenon from more typical outflows. However, we find that instead these starbursts lie on, or along the extrapolation of, the trends defined by the more typical systems studied previously by us. We explo…
We present ALMA detections of the [NII] 205$μ$m and CO(12-11) emission lines, and the tentative detection of [CI] $^3$P$_1$ - $^3$P$_0$ for the strongly lensed ($μ$=5.7$\pm$0.5) dusty, star-forming galaxy SPT-S J213242-5802.9 (hereafter SPT2132-58) at z=4.77. The [NII] and CO(12-11) lines are detected at 11.5 and 8.5 $σ$ level, respectively, by our band-6 observations. The [CI] line is detected at 3.2 $σ$ after a re-analysis of existing band-3 data. The [CI] luminosity implies a gas mass of 3.8$\pm$1.2$\times$10$^{10}$ M$_\odot$, and consequently a very short depletion timescale of 34$\pm$13 M…
We present ALMA detections of the [CI] 1-0, CO J=3-2, and CO J=4-3 emission lines, as well as the ALMA band 4 continuum for a compact star-forming galaxy (cSFG) at z=2.225, 3D-HST GS30274. As is typical for cSFGs, this galaxy has a stellar mass of $1.89 \pm 0.47\,\times 10^{11}\,\rm{M}_\odot$, with a star formation rate of $214\pm44\,\rm{M}_\odot\,\rm{yr}^{-1}$ putting it on the star-forming `main-sequence', but with an H-band effective radius of 2.5 kpc, making it much smaller than the bulk of `main-sequence' star-forming galaxies. The intensity ratio of the line detections yield an ISM densi…
Post-starburst (or "E+A") galaxies trace the fastest and most dramatic processes in galaxy evolution. Recent work studying the evolution of galaxies through this phase have revealed insights on how galaxies undergo structural and stellar population changes as well as the role of various feedback mechanisms. In this review, I summarize recent work on identifying post-starburst galaxies; tracing the role of this phase through cosmic time; measuring stellar populations, on-going star formation, morphologies, kinematics, interstellar medium properties, and AGN activity; mechanisms to cause the rec…
We present numerical computations and analytic scaling relations for interstellar ion-molecule gas phase chemistry down to very low metallicities ($ 10^{-3} \times$ solar), and/or up to high driving ionization rates. Relevant environments include the cool interstellar medium (ISM) in low-metallicity dwarf galaxies, early enriched clouds at the reionization and Pop-II star formation era, and in dense cold gas exposed to intense X-ray or cosmic-ray sources. We focus on the behavior for H$_2$, CO, CH, OH, H$_2$O and O$_2$, at gas temperatures $\sim 100$ K, characteristic of a cooled ISM at low me…
Spatially resolved star-formation histories of local post-starburst galaxies: Starburst and quenching spatial patterns consistent with recent mergers
University of St Andrews(圣安德鲁斯大学);University of Edinburgh(爱丁堡大学);Imperial College London(帝国理工学院);University of Hertfordshire(赫特福德大学);Anqing Normal University(安庆师范大学)
Low-metallicity galaxies may provide key insights into the evolutionary history of galaxies. Galaxies with strong emission lines and high equivalent widths (rest-frame EW(H-beta) > 30 A) are ideal candidates for the lowest metallicity galaxies to z ~ 1. Using a Keck/DEIMOS spectral database of about 18,000 galaxies between z = 0.2 and z = 1, we search for such extreme emission-line galaxies with the goal of determining their metallicities. Using the robust direct Te method, we identify 8 new extremely metal-poor galaxies (XMPGs) with 12 + log O/H < 7.65, including one at 6.949 +/- 0.091, makin…
We study the thermal structure of the neutral atomic (H {\small I}) interstellar medium across a wide range of metallicities, from supersolar down to vanishing metallicity, and for varying UV intensities and cosmic-ray ionization rates. We calculate self-consistently the gas temperature and species abundances (with a special focus on the residual H$_2$), assuming thermal and chemical steady-state. For solar metallicity, $Z' \equiv 1$, we recover the known result that there exists a pressure range over which the gas is multiphased, with the warm ($\sim 10^4$ K, WNM) and cold ($\sim 100$ K, CNM)…
We conduct for the first time a theoretical investigation of the mid-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) produced by dust heated by an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and an extreme starburst. These models employ an integrated modeling approach using photoionization and stellar population synthesis models in which both the line and emergent continuum is predicted from gas exposed to the ionizing radiation from a young starburst and an AGN. In this work, we focus on the infrared colors from the {\it Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer}, predicting the dependence of the colors on the input…
The metallicity and gas density dependence of interstellar depletions, the dust-to-gas (D/G), and dust-to-metal (D/M) ratios have important implications for how accurately we can trace the chemical enrichment of the universe; either by using FIR dust emission as a tracer of the ISM; or by using spectroscopy of damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) to measure chemical abundances over a wide range of redshifts. We collect and compare large samples of depletion measurements in the Milky Way (MW), LMC (Z=0.5 Zsun), and SMC (Z=0.2 Zsun). The relation between the depletions of different elements do not …