THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES

New integral field spectroscopy has been obtained for IZw 18, the nearby lowest-metallicity galaxy considered to be our best local analog of systems forming at high redshift (z). Here we report the spatially resolved spectral map of the nebular He ii λ4686 emission in IZw 18, from which we derived f...

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Autores: Kehrig, C., Vílchez Medina, José Manuel, Pérez Montero, Enrique, Iglesias-Páramo, J., Brinchmann, J., Kunth, D., Durret, F., Bayo, F. M.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/398039
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/398039
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Galaxies: dwarf
Galaxies: individual (IZw 18)
Galaxies: ISM
Galaxies: stellar content
ISM: lines and bands
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spelling THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCESKehrig, C.Vílchez Medina, José ManuelPérez Montero, EnriqueIglesias-Páramo, J.Brinchmann, J.Kunth, D.Durret, F.Bayo, F. M.Galaxies: dwarfGalaxies: individual (IZw 18)Galaxies: ISMGalaxies: stellar contentISM: lines and bandsNew integral field spectroscopy has been obtained for IZw 18, the nearby lowest-metallicity galaxy considered to be our best local analog of systems forming at high redshift (z). Here we report the spatially resolved spectral map of the nebular He ii λ4686 emission in IZw 18, from which we derived for the first time its total He ii-ionizing flux. Nebular He ii emission implies the existence of a hard radiation field. He ii-emitters are observed to be more frequent among high-z galaxies than for local objects. Therefore, investigating the He ii-ionizing source(s) in IZw 18 may reveal the ionization processes at high z. He ii emission in star-forming galaxies has been suggested to be mainly associated with Wolf–Rayet stars (WRs), but WRs cannot satisfactorily explain the He ii-ionization at all times, particularly at the lowest metallicities. Shocks from supernova remnants, or X-ray binaries, have been proposed as additional potential sources of He ii-ionizing photons. Our data indicate that conventional He ii-ionizing sources (WRs, shocks, X-ray binaries) are not sufficient to explain the observed nebular He iiλ4686 emission in IZw 18. We find that the He ii-ionizing radiation expected from models for either low-metallicity super-massive O stars or rotating metal-free stars could account for the He ii-ionization budget measured, while only the latter models could explain the highest values of He iiλ4686/Hβ observed. The presence of such peculiar stars in IZw 18 is suggestive and further investigation in this regard is needed. This letter highlights that some of the clues of the early universe can be found here in our cosmic backyard. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.This work has been partially funded by research projects AYA2010-21887-C04-01 from the Spanish PNAYA, and PEX2011-FQM7058 from Junta de Andalucia. F.D. and D.K. gratefully acknowledge support from the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. We express our appreciation to Leslie Sage for his help and suggestions. We also thank Manfred Pakull for his useful comments on this letter. Thanks are due to Jose Luis Ortiz for his careful reading of the manuscript.Peer reviewedIOP PublishingJunta de AndalucíaCentre National D'Etudes Spatiales (France)Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202520252015info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Postprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/398039reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN//AYA2010-21887-C04-01http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/801/2/L28Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/3980392026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
title THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
spellingShingle THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
Kehrig, C.
Galaxies: dwarf
Galaxies: individual (IZw 18)
Galaxies: ISM
Galaxies: stellar content
ISM: lines and bands
title_short THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
title_full THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
title_fullStr THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
title_full_unstemmed THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
title_sort THE EXTENDED He II λ4686-EMITTING REGION IN IZw 18 UNVEILED: CLUES FOR PECULIAR IONIZING SOURCES
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Kehrig, C.
Vílchez Medina, José Manuel
Pérez Montero, Enrique
Iglesias-Páramo, J.
Brinchmann, J.
Kunth, D.
Durret, F.
Bayo, F. M.
author Kehrig, C.
author_facet Kehrig, C.
Vílchez Medina, José Manuel
Pérez Montero, Enrique
Iglesias-Páramo, J.
Brinchmann, J.
Kunth, D.
Durret, F.
Bayo, F. M.
author_role author
author2 Vílchez Medina, José Manuel
Pérez Montero, Enrique
Iglesias-Páramo, J.
Brinchmann, J.
Kunth, D.
Durret, F.
Bayo, F. M.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Junta de Andalucía
Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (France)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Galaxies: dwarf
Galaxies: individual (IZw 18)
Galaxies: ISM
Galaxies: stellar content
ISM: lines and bands
topic Galaxies: dwarf
Galaxies: individual (IZw 18)
Galaxies: ISM
Galaxies: stellar content
ISM: lines and bands
description New integral field spectroscopy has been obtained for IZw 18, the nearby lowest-metallicity galaxy considered to be our best local analog of systems forming at high redshift (z). Here we report the spatially resolved spectral map of the nebular He ii λ4686 emission in IZw 18, from which we derived for the first time its total He ii-ionizing flux. Nebular He ii emission implies the existence of a hard radiation field. He ii-emitters are observed to be more frequent among high-z galaxies than for local objects. Therefore, investigating the He ii-ionizing source(s) in IZw 18 may reveal the ionization processes at high z. He ii emission in star-forming galaxies has been suggested to be mainly associated with Wolf–Rayet stars (WRs), but WRs cannot satisfactorily explain the He ii-ionization at all times, particularly at the lowest metallicities. Shocks from supernova remnants, or X-ray binaries, have been proposed as additional potential sources of He ii-ionizing photons. Our data indicate that conventional He ii-ionizing sources (WRs, shocks, X-ray binaries) are not sufficient to explain the observed nebular He iiλ4686 emission in IZw 18. We find that the He ii-ionizing radiation expected from models for either low-metallicity super-massive O stars or rotating metal-free stars could account for the He ii-ionization budget measured, while only the latter models could explain the highest values of He iiλ4686/Hβ observed. The presence of such peculiar stars in IZw 18 is suggestive and further investigation in this regard is needed. This letter highlights that some of the clues of the early universe can be found here in our cosmic backyard. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
publishDate 2015
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2015
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Postprint
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/398039
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/398039
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN//AYA2010-21887-C04-01
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/801/2/L28

dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv IOP Publishing
publisher.none.fl_str_mv IOP Publishing
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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