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Register a new userLine Emission from Radiation-Pressurized HII Regions I: Internal Structure and Line Ratios
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Sherry C. C. Yeh
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The emission line ratios [OIII]5007/H-beta and [NII]6584/H-alpha have been adopted as an empirical way to distinguish between the fundamentally different mechanisms of ionization in emission-line galaxies. However, detailed interpretation of these diagnostics requires calculations of the internal structure of the emitting HII regions, and these calculations depend on the assumptions one makes about the relative importance of radiation pressure and stellar winds. In this paper we construct a grid of quasi-static HII region models to explore how choices about these parameters alter HII regions emission line ratios. We find that, when radiation pressure is included in our models, HII regions reach a saturation point beyond which further increases in the luminosity of the driving stars does not produce any further increase in effective ionization parameter, and thus does not yield any further alteration in an HII regions line ratio. We also show that, if stellar winds are assumed to be strong, the maximum possible ionization parameter is quite low. As a result of this effect, it is inconsistent to simultaneously assume that HII regions are wind-blown bubbles and that they have high ionization parameters; some popular HII region models suffer from this inconsistency. Our work in this paper provides a foundation for a companion paper in which we embed the model grids we compute here within a population synthesis code that enables us to compute the integrated line emission from galactic populations of HII regions.
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Optical and infrared emission lines from HII regions are an important diagnostic used to study galaxies, but interpretation of these lines requires significant modeling of both the internal structure and dynamical evolution of the emitting regions. Most of the models in common use today assume that HII region dynamics are dominated by the expansion of stellar wind bubbles, and have neglected the contribution of radiation pressure to the dynamics, and in some cases also to the internal structure. However, recent observations of nearby galaxies suggest that neither assumption is justified, motivating us to revisit the question of how HII region line emission depends on the physics of winds and radiation pressure. In a companion paper we construct models of single HII regions including and excluding radiation pressure and winds, and in this paper we describe a population synthesis code that uses these models to simulate galactic collections of HII regions with varying physical parameters. We show that the choice of physical parameters has significant effects on galactic emission line ratios, and that in some cases the line ratios can exceed previously claimed theoretical limits. Our results suggest that the recently-reported offset in line ratio values between high-redshift star-forming galaxies and those in the local universe may be partially explained by the presence of large numbers of radiation pressured-dominated HII regions within them.
The flux ratios of high-ionization lines are commonly assumed to indicate the metallicity of the broad emission line region in luminous quasars. When accounting for the variation in their kinematic profiles, we show that the NV/CIV, (SiIV+OIV])/CIV and NV/Lya line ratios do not vary as a function of the quasar continuum luminosity, black hole mass, or accretion rate. Using photoionization models from CLOUDY , we further show that the observed changes in these line ratios can be explained by emission from gas with solar abundances, if the physical conditions of the emitting gas are allowed to vary over a broad range of densities and ionizing fluxes. The diversity of broad line emission in quasar spectra can be explained by a model with emission from two kinematically distinct regions, where the line ratios suggest that these regions have either very different metallicity or density. Both simplicity and current galaxy evolution models suggest that near-solar abundances, with parts of the spectrum forming in high-density clouds, are more likely. Within this paradigm, objects with stronger outflow signatures show stronger emission from gas which is denser and located closer to the ionizing source, at radii consistent with simulations of line-driven disc-winds. Studies using broad-line ratios to infer chemical enrichment histories should consider changes in density and ionizing flux before estimating metallicities.
As part of an extensive study of the physical properties of active galactic nuclei (AGN) we report high spatial resolution near-IR integral-field spectroscopy of the narrow-line region (NLR) and coronal-line region (CLR) of seven Seyfert galaxies. These measurements elucidate for the first time the two-dimensional spatial distribution and kinematics of the recombination line Br{gamma} and high-ionization lines [Sivi], [Alix] and [Caviii] on scales <300 pc from the AGN. The observations reveal kinematic signatures of rotation and outflow in the NLR and CLR. The spatially resolved kinematics can be modeled as a combination of an outflow bicone and a rotating disk coincident with the molecular gas. High-excitation emission is seen in both components, suggesting it is leaking out of a clumpy torus. While NGC 1068 (Seyfert 2) is viewed nearly edge-on, intermediate-type Seyferts are viewed at intermediate angles, consistent with unified schemes. A correlation between the outflow velocity and the molecular gas mass in r<30 pc indicates that the accumulation of gas around the AGN increases the collimation and velocity of the outflow. The outflow rate is 2-3 orders of magnitude greater than the accretion rate, implying that the outflow is mass-loaded by the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). In half of the observed AGN the kinetic power of the outflow is of the order of the power required by two-stage feedback models to be thermally coupled to the ISM and match the M-{sigma}* relation. In these objects the radio jet is clearly interacting with the ISM, indicative of a link between jet power and outflow power.
We present observations and models of the behaviour of the HI and HeI lines between 1.6 and 2.2um in a small sample of compact HII regions. As in our previous papers on planetary nebulae, we find that the `pure 1.7007um 4^3D-3^3P and 2.16475um 7^(3,1)G-4^(3,1)F HeI recombination lines behave approximately as expected as the effective temperature of the central exciting star(s) increases. However, the 2.058um 2^1P-2^1S HeI line does not behave as the model predicts, or as seen in planetary nebulae. Both models and planetary nebulae showed a decrease in the HeI 2^1P-2^1S/HI Br gamma ratio above an effective temperature of 40000K. The compact HII regions do not show any such decrease. The problem with this line ratio is probably due to the fact that the photoionisation model does not account correctly for the high densities seen in these HII regions, and that we are therefore seeing more collisional excitation of the 2^1P level than the model predicts. It may also reflect some deeper problem in the assumed model stellar atmospheres. In any event, although the normal HeI recombination lines can be used to place constraints on the temperature of the hottest star present, the HeI 2^1P-2^1S/HI Br gamma ratio should not be used for this purpose in either Galactic HII regions or in starburst galaxies, and conclusions from previous work using this ratio should be regarded with extreme caution. We also show that the combination of the near infrared `pure recombination line ratios with mid-infrared forbidden line data provides a good discriminant of the form of the far ultraviolet spectral energy distribution of the exciting star(s). From this we conclude that CoStar models are a poor match to the available data for our sources, though the more recent WM-basic models are a better fit.
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