24,319 research outputs found
The oxygen abundance in the IFU era
Spatially-resolved information of gas-phase emission provided by integral
field units (IFUs) are allowing us to perform a new generation of emission-line
surveys, based on large samples of HII regions and full two-dimensional
coverage. Here we present two highlights of our current studies employing this
technique: 1) A statistical approach to the abundance gradients of spiral
galaxies, which indicates an -universal- radial gradient for oxygen abundance;
and 2) The discovery of a new scaling relation of HII regions in spiral
galaxies, the "local" mass-metallicity relation of star-forming galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VII,
Proceedings of the X Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society
held on July 9-13, 2012, in Valencia, Spai
Inner and outer star forming regions over the disks of spiral galaxies. I. Sample characterization
Context. The knowledge of abundance distributions is central to understanding
the formation and evolution of galaxies. Most of the relations employed for the
derivation of gas abundances have so far been derived from observations of
outer disk HII regions, despite the known differences between inner and outer
regions. Aims. Using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) observations we aim to
perform a systematic study and comparison of two inner and outer HII regions
samples. The spatial resolution of the IFS, the number of objects and the
homogeneity and coherence of the observations allow a complete characterization
of the main observational properties and differences of the regions. Methods.
We analyzed a sample of 725 inner HII regions and a sample of 671 outer HII
regions, all of them detected and extracted from the observations of a sample
of 263 nearby, isolated, spiral galaxies observed by the CALIFA survey.
Results. We find that inner HII regions show smaller equivalent widths, greater
extinction and luminosities, along with greater values of
[NII]{\lambda}6583/H{\alpha} and [OII]{\lambda}3727/[OIII]{\lambda}5007
emission-line ratios, indicating higher metallicites and lower ionization
parameters. Inner regions have also redder colors and higher photometric and
ionizing masses, although Mion/Mphot is slighty higher for the outer regions.
Conclusions. This work shows important observational differences between inner
and outer HII regions in star forming galaxies not previously studied in
detail. These differences indicate that inner regions have more evolved stellar
populations and are in a later evolution state with respect to outer regions,
which goes in line with the inside-out galaxy formation paradigm.Comment: 16 page
The properties of the extended warm ionised gas around low-redshift QSOs and the lack of extended high-velocity outflows
(Abridged) We present a detailed analysis of a large sample of 31
low-redshift, mostly radio-quiet type 1 QSOs observed with integral field
spectroscopy to study their extended emission-line regions (EELRs). We focus on
the ionisation state of the gas, size and luminosity of extended narrow line
regions (ENLRs), which corresponds to those parts of the EELR dominated by
ionisation from the QSO, as well as the kinematics of the ionised gas. We
detect EELRs around 19 of our 31 QSOs (61%) after deblending the unresolved QSO
emission and the extended host galaxy light in the integral field data. We
identify 13 EELRs to be entirely ionised by the QSO radiation, 3 EELRs are
composed of HII regions and 3 EELRs display signatures of both ionisation
mechanisms at different locations. The typical size of the ENLR is 10kpc at a
median nuclear [OIII] luminosity of log(L([OIII])/[erg/s])=42.7+-0.15. We show
that the ENLR sizes are least a factor of 2 larger than determined with HST,
but are consistent with those of recently reported type 2 QSOs at matching
[OIII] luminosities. The ENLR of type 1 and type 2 QSOs appear to follow the
same size-luminosity relation. Furthermore, we show for the first time that the
ENLR size is much better correlated with the QSO continuum luminosity than with
the total/nuclear [OIII] luminosity. We show that ENLR luminosity and radio
luminosity are correlated, and argue that radio jets even in radio-quiet QSOs
are important for shaping the properties of the ENLR. Strikingly, the
kinematics of the ionised gas is quiescent and likely gravitationally driven in
the majority of cases and we find only 3 objects with radial gas velocities
exceeding 400km/s in specific regions of the EELR that can be associate with
radio jets. In general, these are significantly lower outflow velocities and
detection rates compared to starburst galaxies or radio-loud QSOs.Comment: 34 page, 22 figures (slightly degraded in resolution), 10 tables,
accepted for publication in A&A, minor corrections to match with the
publisher versio
The low-metallicity QSO HE 2158-0107: A massive galaxy growing by the accretion of nearly pristine gas from its environment?
[abridged] The metallicities of AGN are usually well above solar in their
NLR, often reaching up to several times solar in their broad-line regions.
Low-metallicity AGN are rare objects which have so far always been associated
with low-mass galaxies hosting low-mass BHs (M_BH<10^6Msun). In this paper we
present IFS data of the low-redshift QSO HE 2158-0107 for which we find strong
evidence for sub-solar NLR metallicities associated with a massive BH
(M_BH~3x10^8Msun). The QSO is surrounded by a large extended emission-line
region reaching out to 30kpc from the QSO in a tail-like geometry. We present
optical and near-IR images and investigate the properties of the host galaxy.
The SED of the host is rather blue, indicative of a significant young age
stellar population formed within the last 1Gyr. A 3sigma upper limit of
L_bulge<4.5x10^10Lsun for the H band luminosity and a corresponding stellar
mass upper limit of M_bulge<3.4x10^10Msun show that the host is offset from the
local BH-bulge relations. This is independently supported by the kinematics of
the gas. Although the stellar mass of the host galaxy is lower than expected,
it cannot explain the exceptionally low metallicity of the gas. We suggest that
the extended emission-line region and the galaxy growth are caused by the
infall of nearly pristine gas from the environment of the QSO host. Minor
mergers of dwarf galaxies or the theoretically predicted smooth accretion of
cold gas are both potential drivers behind that process. Since the metallicity
of the gas in the NLR is much lower than expected, we suspect that the external
gas has already reached the galaxy centre and may even contribute to the
current feeding of the BH. HE 2158-0107 appears to represent a particular phase
of substantial BH and galaxy growth that can be observationally linked with the
accretion of external material from its environment.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&
PPAK Wide-field Integral Field Spectroscopy of NGC 628: II. Emission line abundance analysis
In this second paper of the series, we present the 2-dimensional (2D)
emission line abundance analysis of NGC 628, the largest object within the PPAK
Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) Nearby Galaxies Survey: PINGS. We introduce
the methodology applied to the 2D IFS data in order to extract and deal with
large spectral samples, from which a 2D abundance analysis can be later
performed. We obtain the most complete and reliable abundance gradient of the
galaxy up-to-date, by using the largest number of spectroscopic points sampled
in the galaxy, and by comparing the statistical significance of different
strong-line metallicity indicators. We find features not previously reported
for this galaxy that imply a multi-modality of the abundance gradient
consistent with a nearly flat-distribution in the innermost regions of the
galaxy, a steep negative gradient along the disc and a shallow gradient or
nearly-constant metallicity beyond the optical edge of the galaxy. The N/O
ratio seems to follow the same radial behaviour. We demonstrate that the
observed dispersion in metallicity shows no systematic dependence with the
spatial position, signal-to-noise or ionization conditions, implying that the
scatter in abundance for a given radius is reflecting a true spatial physical
variation of the oxygen content. Furthermore, by exploiting the 2D IFS data, we
were able to construct the 2D metallicity structure of the galaxy, detecting
regions of metal enhancement, and showing that they vary depending on the
choice of the metallicity estimator. The analysis of axisymmetric variations in
the disc of NGC 628 suggest that the physical conditions and the star formation
history of different-symmetric regions of the galaxy have evolved in a
different manner.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 40 pages, 22 figures, online data:
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ioa/research/ping
Exploring cloudy gas accretion as a source of interstellar turbulence in the outskirts of disks
High--resolution 2D--MHD numerical simulations have been carried out to
investigate the effects of continuing infall of clumpy gas in extended HI
galactic disks. Given a certain accretion rate, the response of the disk
depends on its surface gas density and temperature. For Galactic conditions at
a galactocentric distance of ~20 kpc, and for mass accretion rates consistent
with current empirical and theoretical determinations in the Milky Way, the
rain of compact high velocity clouds onto the disk can maintain transonic
turbulent motions in the warm phase (~2500 K) of HI. Hence, the HI line width
is expected to be ~6.5 km/s for a gas layer at 2500 K, if infall were the only
mechanism of driving turbulence. Some statistical properties of the resulting
forcing flow are shown in this Letter. The radial dependence of the gas
velocity dispersion is also discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Testing the Modern Merger Hypothesis via the Assembly of Massive Blue Elliptical Galaxies in the Local Universe
The modern merger hypothesis offers a method of forming a new elliptical
galaxy through merging two equal-mass, gas-rich disk galaxies fuelling a
nuclear starburst followed by efficient quenching and dynamical stabilization.
A key prediction of this scenario is a central concentration of young stars
during the brief phase of morphological transformation from highly-disturbed
remnant to new elliptical galaxy. To test this aspect of the merger hypothesis,
we use integral field spectroscopy to track the stellar Balmer absorption and
4000\AA\ break strength indices as a function of galactic radius for 12 massive
(), nearby (),
visually-selected plausible new ellipticals with blue-cloud optical colours and
varying degrees of morphological peculiarities. We find that these index values
and their radial dependence correlate with specific morphological features such
that the most disturbed galaxies have the smallest 4000\AA\ break strengths and
the largest Balmer absorption values. Overall, two-thirds of our sample are
inconsistent with the predictions of the modern merger hypothesis. Of these
eight, half exhibit signatures consistent with recent minor merger
interactions. The other half have star formation histories similar to local,
quiescent early-type galaxies. Of the remaining four galaxies, three have the
strong morphological disturbances and star-forming optical colours consistent
with being remnants of recent, gas-rich major mergers, but exhibit a weak,
central burst consistent with forming of their stars. The final
galaxy possesses spectroscopic signatures of a strong, centrally-concentrated
starburst and quiescent core optical colours indicative of recent quenching
(i.e., a post-starburst signature) as prescribed by the modern merger
hypothesis.Comment: 25 pages, 37 figures, accepted to MNRA
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