No Arabic abstract
SBS0335-052 is a blue compact dwarf galaxy (BCD) with one of the lowest known metallicities, Z$sim$Z$_{sun}$/41, making it a local example of how primordial starburst galaxies and their precursors might appear. A spectrum obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope clearly shows silicate absorption features, emission lines of [SIV] and [NeIII], and puts strong upper limits on the PAH emission features. The observed low resolution spectrum (R~90) extends from 5.3 to 35microns and peaks at ~28microns. The spectrum is compared to IRS observations of the prototypical starburst nucleus NGC7714. SBS0335-052 is quite unlike normal starburst galaxies, which show strong PAH bands, low ionization emission lines, and a continuum peak near 80microns. The continuum difference for $lambda >30 mu$m implies a substantial reduction in the mass of cold dust. If the spectrum of this very low metallicity galaxy is representative of star forming galaxies at higher redshifts, it may be difficult to distinguish them from AGNs which also show relatively featureless flat spectra in the mid-IR.
The unprecedented sensitivity of the Spitzer Space Telescope has enabled us for the first time to detect a large sample of Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies (BCDs), which are intrinsically faint in the infrared. In the present paper we present a summary of our findings which providing essential information on the presence/absence of the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon features in metal-poor environments. In addition, using Spitzer/IRS high-resolution spectroscopy, we study the elemental abundances of neon and sulfur in BCDs and compare with the results from optical studies. Finally, we present an analysis of the mid- and far-infrared to radio correlation in low luminosity low metallicity galaxies.
Properties of the cold interstellar medium of low-metallicity galaxies are not well-known due to the faintness and extremely small scale on which emission is expected. We present deep ALMA band 6 (230GHz) observations of the nearby, low-metallicity (12 + log(O/H) = 7.25) blue compact dwarf galaxy SBS0335-052 at an unprecedented resolution of 0.2 arcsec (52 pc). The 12CO J=2-1 line is not detected and we report a 3-sigma upper limit of LCO(2-1) = 3.6x10^4 K km/s pc^2. Assuming that molecular gas is converted into stars with a given depletion time, ranging from 0.02 to 2 Gyr, we find lower limits on the CO-to-H2 conversion factor alpha_CO in the range 10^2-10^4 Msun pc^-2 (K km/s)^-1. The continuum emission is detected and resolved over the two main super star clusters. Re-analysis of the IR-radio spectral energy distribution suggests that the mm-fluxes are not only free-free emission but are most likely also associated with a cold dust component coincident with the position of the brightest cluster. With standard dust properties, we estimate its mass to be as large as 10^5 Msun. Both line and continuum results suggest the presence of a large cold gas reservoir unseen in CO even with ALMA.
The results of deep long-slit spectroscopy of the extremely low-metallicity blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxy SBS 0335-052 are presented. Down to intensity levels of 10^{-3 ... -4} of Hbeta, unprecedented for spectroscopy of extra-galactic giant H II regions, we detect numerous weak permitted and forbidden nebular lines in the brightest part of the galaxy. With varying degrees of confidence, the detections include lines of high-ionization ions like Fe^{4+} -Fe^{6+}, implying very hard ionizing radiation. Two broad emission features, possibly from Wolf-Rayet stars, and stellar He II 4200 absorption are seen in the same region. The large spatial extent of He II 4686 emission (implying the presence of sufficient ionizing photons with energies above 54 eV) and the spatial distribution of the electron temperature suggest that at least some part of the hard radiation is associated with shocks. Extended Halpha emission is detected over ~ 6 - 8 kpc, a much larger area than in previous studies, suggesting that hot ionized gas is spread out far away from the central ionizing clusters. This shows that nebular line and continuous emission can significantly modify the colours of these extended regions and must be taken into account in studies of the underlying stellar population.
We present the results of HI mapping with the NRAO VLA of one of the most metal-deficient blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies known, SBS 0335-052, with an oxygen abundance of only 1/40 that of the Sun. We study the structure and dynamics of the neutral gas in this chemically young object with a spatial resolution of 20.5x15 (~ 5.4 x 3.9 kpc at an assumed distance of 54.3 Mpc), a sensitivity at the 2sigma detection level of ~2.0K or 7.5x10^19 cm^-2 and a velocity resolution of 21.2 km s^-1. We detected a large HI complex associated with this object with an overall size of about 66 by 22 kpc and elongated in the East-West direction. There are two prominent, slightly resolved peaks visible in the integrated HI map, separated in the East-West direction by 22 kpc (84). The eastern peak is nearly coincident with the position of the optical galaxy SBS 0335-052. The western peak is about a factor of 1.3 brighter in the HI line and is identified with a faint blue compact dwarf galaxy, SBS 0335-052W, with m_B = 19.4, and a metallicity close to the lowest values known for BCDs, about 1/50 that of the Sun. The radial velocities of both systems are similar, suggesting that the two BCDs SBS 0335-052 and SBS 0335-052W constitute a pair of dwarf galaxies embedded in a common HI envelope. Alternatively, the BCDs can be the nuclei of two distinct interacting primordial HI clouds. The estimated total dynamical mass, assuming the BCDs form a bound system, is larger than 6x10^9 Msun. This is to be compared to a total gaseous mass M_gas = 2.1x10^9 Msun, and a total stellar mass Mstar < 10^8 Msun. Hence, the mass of the SBS 0335-052 system is dominated by dark matter (abridged).
It has long been speculated that many starburst or compact dwarf galaxies are resulted from dwarf-dwarf galaxy merging, but unequivocal evidence for this possibility has rarely been reported in the literature. We present the first study of deep optical broadband images of a gas-dominated blue compact dwarf galaxy (BCD) VCC848 (Mstar=2e8Msun) which hosts extended stellar shells and thus is confirmed to be a dwarf-dwarf merger. VCC848 is located in the outskirts of the Virgo Cluster. By analyzing the stellar light distribution, we found that VCC848 is the result of a merging between two dwarf galaxies with a primary-to-secondary mass ratio < ~ 5 for the stellar components and < ~ 2 for the presumed dark matter halos. The secondary progenitor galaxy has been almost entirely disrupted. The age-mass distribution of photometrically selected star cluster candidates in VCC848 implies that the cluster formation rate (CFR, proportional to star formation rate) was enhanced by a factor of ~ 7 - 10 during the past 1 Gyr. The merging-induced enhancement of CFR peaked near the galactic center a few hundred Myr ago and has started declining in the last few tens of Myr. The current star formation activities, as traced by the youngest clusters, mainly occur at large galactocentric distances (> ~ 1 kpc). The fact that VCC848 is still (atomic) gas-dominated after the period of most violent collision suggests that gas-rich dwarf galaxy merging can result in BCD-like remnants with extended atomic gas distribution surrounding a blue compact center, in general agreement with previous numerical simulations.