No Arabic abstract
We present sub-arcsecond optical images and low- to moderate-resolution spectra of the compact, X-ray and optically bright supernova remnant known as S8 in the nearby dwarf galaxy IC 1613. Deep H$alpha$ images of the remnant show a sharply defined crescent shaped nebula, while narrow passband images reveal a coincident and unexpectedly bright continuum nebulosity exhibiting a size and morphology like that seen for the remnants line emissions. Low-dispersion spectra covering 3600 - 9000 A show numerous low-ionization line emissions such as [O I] and [Fe II], along with higher-ionization emission lines including He II and optical coronal lines [Fe VII], [Fe X], [Fe XI], and [Fe XIV]. This suggests the presence of a wide range of shock velocities from $sim$ 50 to over 350 km s$^{-1}$, corresponding to preshock densities of $sim1 - 30$ cm$^{-3}$. Higher resolution spectra indicate an expansion velocity around 180 km s$^{-1}$ with a $sim45$ km s$^{-1}$ wide central cavity. H$alpha$ emission spans rest frame velocities of $+120$ to $-240$ km s$^{-1}$ and we estimate a total nebula mass of $119 pm 34$ M$_{odot}$. We conclude S8 is a relatively young supernova remnant ($simeq2700 - 4400$ yr) exhibiting properties remarkably like those seen in the young LMC remnant N49, including age, physical size, shock velocities, filament densities, optical line strengths, X-ray and optical luminosities, and coronal line and continuum emissions.
We conducted an observation of the nearby irregular galaxy IC 1613 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory using the S3 chip of the ACIS with an effective exposure time of 49.9 ksec. The observation primarily targeted the extensive bubble and star formation region in the northeast quadrant of the galaxy. The only known supernova remnant (SNR) in IC 1613, S8, is also the galaxys most luminous X-ray source (L_X (0.3-8 keV) ~5-6x10^{36} erg/s). We resolve the SNR with Chandra and compare its nearly circular X-ray morphology with Halpha and radio images. We assign an upper limit on the luminosity of any possible associated compact central object of ~4x10^{35}$ erg/s (0.3-8 keV band) and conclude that we would detect a Crab-like pulsar but not a Cas A-like object. We infer an age for S8 of ~3400-5600 years and compare it to other SNRs in the Local Group. We suggest that S8 is a young composite SNR.
Determining the star formation history (SFH) is key to understand the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies. Recovering the SFH in resolved galaxies is mostly based on deep colour--magnitude diagrams (CMDs), which trace the signatures of multiple evolutionary stages of their stellar populations. In distant and unresolved galaxies, the integrated light of the galaxy can be decomposed, albeit made difficult by an age--metallicity degeneracy. Another solution to determine the SFH of resolved galaxies is based on evolved stars; these luminous stars are the most accessible tracers of the underlying stellar populations and can trace the entire SFH. Here we present a novel method based on long period variable (LPV) evolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and red supergiants (RSGs). We applied this method to reconstruct the SFH for IC 1613, an irregular dwarf galaxy at a distance of 750 kpc. Our results provide an independent confirmation that no major episode of star formation occurred in IC 1613 over the past 5 Gyr.
IC 1613 is a Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy at a distance of 750 kpc. In this work, we present an analysis of the star formation history (SFH) of a field of $sim200$ square arcmin in the central part of the galaxy. To this aim, we use a novel method based on the resolved population of more highly evolved stars. We identify 53 such stars, 8 of which are supergiants and the remainder are long period variables (LPV), large amplitude variables (LAV) or extreme Asymptotic Giant Branch (x-AGB) stars. Using stellar evolution models, we find the age and birth mass of these stars and thus reconstruct the SFH. The average rate of star formation during the last Gyr is $sim3times10^{-4}$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-2}$. The absence of a dominant epoch of star formation over the past 5 Gyr, suggests that IC 1613 has evolved in isolation for that long, spared harrassment by other Local Group galaxies (in particular M 31 and the Milky Way). We confirm the radial age gradient, with star formation currently concentrated in the central regions of IC 1613, and the failure of recent star formation to have created the main HI supershell. Based on the current rate of star formation at $(5.5pm2)times10^{-3}$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$, the interstellar gas mass of the galaxy of $9times10^7$ M$_odot$ and the gas production rate from AGB stars at $sim6times10^{-4}$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$, we conclude that the star formation activity of IC 1613 can continue for $sim18$ Gyr in a closed-box model, but is likely to cease much earlier than that unless gas can be accreted from outside.
Based on observations from the emph{FourStar} near-infrared camera on the 6.5m Baade-Magellan telescope at Las Campanas, Chile, we present calibrations of the $JHK$ luminosities of stars defining the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in the halo of the Local Group dwarf galaxy IC 1613. We employ metallicity-independent (rectified) T-band magnitudes---constructed using $J,H$ and $K$-band magnitudes and both $(J-H)~ & ~(J-K)$ colors in order to flatten the upward-sloping red giant branch tips as otherwise seen in their apparent color-magnitude diagrams. We describe and quantify the advantages of working at these particular near-infrared wavelengths, which are applicable to both emph{HST} and emph{JWST}. We also note that these same wavelengths can be accessed from the ground for an eventual tie-in to emph{Gaia} for absolute astrometry and parallaxes to calibrate the intrinsic luminosity of the TRGB. Adopting the color terms derived from the IC 1613 data, as well as the zero-points from a companion study of the Large Magellanic Cloud whose distance is anchored to the geometric distances of detached eclipsing binaries, we find a true distance modulus of 24.32 $pm$ 0.02~ (statistical) $pm$ 0.06~mag (systematic) for IC 1613, which compares favorably with the recently published multi-wavelength, multi-method consensus modulus of 24.30 $pm$ 0.05~mag by Hatt et al. (2017).
G1.9+0.3 is the youngest known Galactic supernova remnant (SNR), with an estimated supernova (SN) explosion date of about 1900, and most likely located near the Galactic Center. Only the outermost ejecta layers with free-expansion velocities larger than about 18,000 km/s have been shocked so far in this dynamically young, likely Type Ia SNR. A long (980 ks) Chandra observation in 2011 allowed spatially-resolved spectroscopy of heavy-element ejecta. We denoised Chandra data with the spatio-spectral method of Krishnamurthy et al., and used a wavelet-based technique to spatially localize thermal emission produced by intermediate-mass elements (IMEs: Si and S) and iron. The spatial distribution of both IMEs and Fe is extremely asymmetric, with the strongest ejecta emission in the northern rim. Fe Kalpha emission is particularly prominent there, and fits with thermal models indicate strongly oversolar Fe abundances. In a localized, outlying region in the northern rim, IMEs are less abundant than Fe, indicating that undiluted Fe-group elements (including 56Ni) with velocities larger than 18,000 km/s were ejected by this SN. But in the inner west rim, we find Si- and S-rich ejecta without any traces of Fe, so high-velocity products of O-burning were also ejected. G1.9+0.3 appears similar to energetic Type Ia SNe such as SN 2010jn where iron-group elements at such high free-expansion velocities have been recently detected. The pronounced asymmetry in the ejecta distribution and abundance inhomogeneities are best explained by a strongly asymmetric SN explosion, similar to those produced in some recent 3D delayed-detonation Type Ia models.