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Studying the ISM at similar to 10 pc scale in NGC 7793 with MUSE: II. Constraints on the oxygen abundance and ionising radiation escape
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Astronomy. Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmo Particle Physics (OKC).
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Astronomy. Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmo Particle Physics (OKC).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8192-8091
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Number of Authors: 142021 (English)In: Astronomy and Astrophysics, ISSN 0004-6361, E-ISSN 1432-0746, Vol. 650, article id A103Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Context. Feedback from massive stars a ffects the interstellar medium (ISM) from the immediate surroundings of the stars (parsec scales) to galactic (kiloparsec) scales. High-spatial resolution studies of H ii regions are critical to investigate how this mechanism operates.

Aims. We study the ionised ISM in NGC7793 with the MUSE instrument at ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), over a field of view (FoV) of similar to 2 kpc2 and at a spatial resolution of similar to 10 pc. The aim is to link the physical conditions of the ionised gas (reddening, ionisation status, abundance measurements) within the spatially resolved H ii regions to the properties of the stellar populations producing Lyman continuum photons.

Methods. The analysis of the MUSE dataset, which provides a map of the ionised gas and a census of Wolf Rayet stars, is complemented with a sample of young star clusters (YSCs) and O star candidates observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and of giant molecular clouds traced in CO(2-1) emission with the Atacama Large Millimeter /submillimeter Array (ALMA). We estimated the oxygen abundance using a temperature-independent strong-line method. We determined the observed total amount of ionising photons ( Q(H0)) from the extinction corrected H ff luminosity. This estimate was then compared to the expected Q(H0) obtained by summing the contributions of YSCs and massive stars. The ratio of the two values gives an estimate for the escape fraction ( fesc) of photons in the region of interest. We used the [S ii] /[O iii] ratio as a proxy for the optical depth of the gas and classified H ii regions into ionisation bounded, or as featuring channels of optically thin gas. We compared the resulting ionisation structure with the computed fesc. We also investigated the dependence of fesc on the age spanned by the stellar population in each region.

Results. We find a median oxygen abundance of 12 + log (O =H) similar to 8 :37, with a scatter of 0.25 dex, which is in agreement with previous estimates for our target. We furthermore observe that the abundance map of H ii regions is rich in substructures, surrounding clusters and massive stars, although clear degeneracies with photoionisation are also observed. From the population synthesis analysis, we find that YSCs located in H ii regions have a higher probability of being younger and less massive as well as of emitting a higher number of ionising photons than clusters in the rest of the field. Overall, we find fesc;H ii = 0:67+0:08 0:12 for the population of H ii regions. We also conclude that the sources of ionisation observed within the FoV are more than su fficient to explain the amount of di ffuse ionised gas (DIG) observed in this region of the galaxy. We do not observe a systematic trend between the visual appearance of H ii regions and fesc, pointing to the e ffect of 3D geometry in the small sample probed.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 650, article id A103
Keywords [en]
galaxies: ISM, HII regions, galaxies: individual: NGC 7793, ISM: structure, ISM: general
National Category
Physical Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-195956DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039402ISI: 000663728000001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-195956DiVA, id: diva2:1588964
Available from: 2021-08-30 Created: 2021-08-30 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Star Formation and feedback at key physical scales for galaxy evolution
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Star Formation and feedback at key physical scales for galaxy evolution
2021 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Feedback from young, massive stars plays an essential role in the self-regulation of star formation in galaxies, and in shaping the galaxies' global properties. This phenomenon originates at small scales, surrounding the stars, but has been observed to be effective up to galactic-wide scales. The exact mechanism which allows the ionising radiation to escape the star-forming regions (HII regions), initially still embedded in their natal molecular hydrogen gas, is still unknown. Constraining the escape of ionising photons from HII regions is also relevant in order to explain the origin of the diffuse ionised gas (DIG) that is observed to contribute up to 50% to the Ha luminosity of nearby galaxies. 

I present the results of the study of stellar feedback in two nearby galaxies (NGC 7793 and M83), at spatial scales that critically connect the sources of ionisation with their immediate surroundings. We determine the fraction of DIG and study its properties and origin. We find that in NGC 7793 ionising sources located in the DIG are producing a sufficient amount of hydrogen-ionising (LyC) photons to explain the diffuse gas emission. In M83, on the other hand, the DIG is ionised by a mixed contribution of photoionisation and shocks. We investigate the link between LyC leakage from HII regions and their stellar and gas properties. We find that the age spread of the stellar population in the region does not seem to imply a higher leakage. Also the ionisation structure of the regions (e.g. the presence of "channels" that are transparent to the LyC photons) appears to be uncorrelated with escape in our sample. In M83, we also study the relative importance of different types of stellar feedback. We find that the pressure exerted by the ionised gas is always dominant over the direct radiation pressure. When the total HII region pressure is compared to the environmental pressure, we observe that regions near the galactic centre are in equilibrium with the surroundings, whereas regions in the disk are overpressured and are therefore expanding. We also find that changes in the local environmental conditions are the dominant factor in setting the ionised gas pressure, and that the pressure terms are linked to the physical properties (age and mass) of the young star clusters powering the regions. In the near future, observations from the James Webb Space Telescope will allow us to study the most embedded star-forming regions with a resolution comparable to the present one.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, 2021. p. 93
Keywords
Galaxies, Star Formation, Stellar Feedback, HII regions, ISM
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Research subject
Astronomy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-199187 (URN)978-91-7911-712-2 (ISBN)978-91-7911-713-9 (ISBN)
Public defence
2022-01-14, Oskar Kleins auditorium (FR4), AlbaNova universitetscentrum, Roslagstullsbacken 21 (also online via Zoom, public link is available at the department website), Stockholm, 13:00 (English)
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Note

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Submitted, Paper 5: Manuscript.

Available from: 2021-12-21 Created: 2021-11-27 Last updated: 2021-12-13Bibliographically approved

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Della Bruna, LorenzaAdamo, AngelaBik, ArjanMessa, MatteoÖstlin, Göran

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