Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userAn Interferometric Study of the Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy IZW18
60
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present high spatial resolution observations of the blue compact dwarf galaxy IZW18 performed in the Halpha line with a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer at the CFH telescope. Morphological structure of the galaxy in Halpha and in the red continuum is investigated. We also analyse the velocity field of the ionized gas. Besides the two compact HII components of the main body we find a population of small HII regions in its surroundings whose diameter distribution and Halpha luminosity function are consistent with those observed in dwarf Irregular galaxies. In the main body of the galaxy besides of the NW and SE red continuum peaks which are displaced with respect to the Halpha maxima, three new red condensations have been discovered. They have no clear Halpha counterparts. The velocity field in IZW18 shows peculiar motions superimposed on a quite regular background implying solid-body rotation with a gradient of about 70km/sec/ kpc. The Halpha line profiles exhibit an asymmetric structure, except for the NW main compact component. At least part of this asymmetry could result from accreted and/or expelled surrounding gas from the main star-forming core(s) of the galaxy. Contrary to previous suggestions that the south-west and north-east extensions of this galaxy are diffused emission produced by bipolar emitting gas we provide evidence that they are HII regions powered by star formation sites. The redshift of the Zwickys flare has been measured for the first time and corresponds to the same velocity as IZW18. In such a context the optical ridge that appears to be an isolated morphological structure has a shape that may result from the gravitational interaction with the Zwickys flare if this latter is a neighbour extreme dwarf object.
rate research
Read More
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.
New FUSE far-UV spectroscopy of the nearby metal-deficient (Zsun/8) cometary Blue Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxy Markarian (Mrk) 59 is discussed. The data are used to investigate element abundances in its interstellar medium. The H I absorption lines are characterized by narrow cores which are interstellar in origin and by broad wings which are stellar in origin. The mean interstellar H I column density is ~ 7x10E20 cm-2 in Mrk 59. No H2 lines are seen and N(H2) is < 10E15 cm-2 at the 10 sigma level. The lack of diffuse H2 is due to the combined effect of a strong UV radiation field which destroys the H2 molecules and a low metallicity which leads to a scarcity of dust grains necessary for H2 formation. P-Cygni profiles of the S VI 933.4, 944.5 A and O VI 1031.9, 1037.6 A lines are seen, indicating the presence of very hot O stars and a stellar wind terminal velocity of ~ 1000 km/s. By fitting the line profiles with multiple components having each a velocity dispersion b = 7 km/s and spanning a radial velocity range of 100 km/s, some of which can be saturated, we derive heavy element abundances in the neutral gas. We find log N(O I)/N(H I) = -5.0+/-0.3 or [O I/H I] = -1.5 for the neutral gas, about a factor of 10 below the oxygen abundance of the supergiant H II region, implying self-enrichment of the latter.
Long-slit observations of the blue compact galaxy Haro 2 have been performed to detect the Halpha emission originating in the partially ionized wind outflowing at 200 km/s, that had been previously detected with the Hubble Space Telescope. A shallow broadening of the Halpha line wings has been observed, consistent with the existence of an expanding shell. The rotation curve shows two dips at the same systemic velocity as the nucleus. At the positions of the dips the Halpha line is clearly broadened with respect to the central core. This broadening is produced by the outer layers of the expanding shell. From the position of these dips we estimate the size of the shell to be around 20 in diameter, with a corresponding kinematical age between 5 and 6 Myr. A comparison of the Halpha and Ly_alpha profiles shows that Ly_alpha is significantly broader than Halpha, with an additional emission in the red wing. We interpret this redshifted source of Ly_alpha emission as line photons backscattered by the receding part of the expanding shell. These observations outline the extremely high sensitivity of the Ly_alpha line to the structure and kinematics of the interstellar medium.
The possibility is explored that accretion on an intermediate mass black hole contributes to the ionisation of the interstellar medium of the Compact Blue Dwarf galaxy MRK996. Chandra observations set tight upper limits (99.7 per cent confidence level) in both the X-ray luminosity of the posited AGN, Lx(2-10keV)<3e40erg/s, and the black hole mass, <1e4/lambda Msolar, where lambda, is the Eddington ratio. The X-ray luminosity upper limit is insufficient to explain the high ionisation line [OIV]25.89mu m, which is observed in the mid-infrared spectrum of the MRK996 and is proposed as evidence for AGN activity. This indicates that shocks associated with supernovae explosions and winds of young stars must be responsible for this line. It is also found that the properties of the diffuse X-ray emission of MRK996 are consistent with this scenario, thereby providing direct evidence for shocks that heat the galaxys interstellar medium and contribute to its ionisation.
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.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
