243 research outputs found
The Primordial Helium Abundance: Towards Understanding and Removing the Cosmic Scatter in the dY/dZ Relation
We present results from photoionization models of low-metallicity HII
regions. These nebulae form the basis for measuring the primordial helium
abundance. Our models show that the helium ionization correction factor (ICF)
can be non-negligible for nebulae excited by stars with effective temperatures
larger than 40,000 K. Furthermore, we find that when the effective temperature
rises to above 45,000 K, the ICF can be significantly negative. This result is
independent of the choice of stellar atmosphere. However, if an HII region has
an [O III] 5007/[O I] 6300 ratio greater than 300, then our models show that,
regardless of its metallicity, it will have a negligibly small ICF. A similar,
but metallicity dependent, result was found using the [O III] 5007/H
ratio. These two results can be used as selection criteria to remove nebulae
with potentially non-negligible ICFs. Using our metallicity independent
criterion on the data of Izotov & Thuan (1998) results in a 20% reduction of
the rms scatter about the best fit line. A fit to the selected data
results in a slight increase of the value of the primordial helium abundance.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted by the Ap
Tol 2240-384 - a new low-metallicity AGN candidate
Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have typically been discovered in massive
galaxies of high metallicity. We attempt to increase the number of AGN
candidates in low metallicity galaxies. We present VLT/UVES and archival
VLT/FORS1 spectroscopic and NTT/SUSI2 photometric observations of the
low-metallicity emission-line galaxy Tol 2240-384 and perform a detailed study
of its morphology, chemical composition, and emission-line profiles. We
determine abundances of nitrogen, O, Ne, S, Cl, Ar, and Fe by analyzing the
fluxes of narrow components of the emission lines using empirical methods. We
verify with a photoionisation model that the physics of the narrow-line
component gas is similar to that in common metal-poor galaxies. Image
deconvolution reveals two high-surface brightness regions in Tol 2240-384
separated by 2.4 kpc.The brightest southwestern region is surrounded by intense
ionised gas emission on a spatial scale of ~5 kpc. The profiles of the strong
emission lines in the UVES spectrum are asymmetric and all these lines apart
from Halpha and Hbeta can be fitted by two Gaussians of FWHM ~75-92 km/s
separated by ~80 km/s implying that there are two regions of ionised gas
emitting narrow lines. The shapes of the Halpha and Hbeta lines are more
complex. In particular, the Halpha emission line consists of two broad
components of FWHM ~700 km/s and 2300 km/s, in addition to narrow components of
two regions revealed from profiles of other lines. The extraordinarily high
luminosity of the broad Halpha line of 3x10e41 erg/s cannot be accounted for by
massive stars at different stages of their evolution. The broad Halpha emission
persists over a period of 7 years, which excludes supernovae as a powering
mechanism of this emission. This emission most likely arises from an accretion
disc around a black hole of mass ~10e7 Msun.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
The kinematics of the most oxygen-poor planetary nebula PN G135.9+55.9
PN G135.9+55.9 is a compact, high excitation nebula that has been identified
recently as the most oxygen-poor halo planetary nebula. Given its very peculiar
characteristics and potential implications in the realms of stellar and
Galactic evolution, additional data are needed to firmly establish its true
nature and evolutionary history. Here we present the first long-slit, high
spectral resolution observations of this object in the lines of H and
He II 4686. The position-velocity data are shown to be compatible with the
interpretation of PN G135.9+55.9 being a halo planetary nebula. In both
emission lines, we find the same two velocity components that characterize the
kinematics as that of an expanding elliptical envelope. The kinematics is
consistent with a prolate ellipsoidal model with axis ratio about 2:1, a
radially decreasing emissivity distribution, a velocity distribution that is
radial, and an expansion velocity of 30 km/s for the bulk of the material. To
fit the observed line profiles, this model requires an asymmetric matter
distribution, with the blue-shifted emission considerably stronger than the
red-shifted emission. We find that the widths of the two velocity components
are substantially wider than those expected due to thermal motions, but
kinematic structure in the projected area covered by the slit appears to be
sufficient to explain the line widths. The present data also rule out the
possible presence of an accretion disk in the system that could have been
responsible for a fraction of the H flux, further supporting the
planetary nebula nature of PN G135.9+55.9.Comment: accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic
An object that defies stereotypes : X-ray observations of SBS 1150+599A - the binary nucleus of PN G135.9+55.9
We present X-ray observations of the close binary nucleus of the planetary nebula (PN) PN G135.9+55.9 obtained with the XMM satellite. The nebula is the most oxygen-poor PN known to date and is located in the Galactic halo. It is known to harbor a close binary nucleus of which only one component can be observed in optical-UV range. New X-ray observations show that the invisible component is a very hot compact star. This finding allows us to reconstruct the immediate past of the object and predict its future. The parameters of the binary components we determine strongly suggest that the precursor was a symbiotic supersoft X-ray source that finished its life by Roche lobe overflow. PN G135.9+55.9 is an excellent candidate for a future type Ia supernova
The effect of collisional enhancement of Balmer lines on the determination of the primordial helium abundance
This paper describes a new determination of the primordial helium abundance
(Y_P), based on the abundance analysis of five metal-poor extragalactic HII
regions. For three regions of the sample (SBS 0335-052, I Zw 18, and H29) we
present tailored photoionization models based on improved calculations with
respect to previous models. In particular, we use the photoionization models to
study quantitatively the effect of collisional excitation of Balmer lines on
the determination of the helium abundance (Y) in the individual regions. This
effect is twofold: first, the intensities of the Balmer lines are enhanced with
respect to the pure recombination value, mimicking a higher hydrogen abundance;
second, the observed reddening is larger than the true extinction, due to the
differential effect of collisions on different Balmer lines. In addition to
these effects, our analysis takes into account the following features of HII
regions: (i) the temperature structure, (ii) the density structure, (iii) the
presence of neutral helium, (iv) the collisional excitation of the HeI lines,
(v) the underlying absorption of the HeI lines, and (vi) the optical thickness
of the HeI lines. The object that shows the highest increase in Y after the
inclusion of collisional effects in the analysis is SBS 0335-052, whose helium
abundance has been revised by Delta Y = +0.0107. The revised Y values for the
five objects in our sample yield an increase of +0.0035 in Y_P, giving Y_P =
0.2391 +/- 0.0020.Comment: 59 pages, 8 figures. AAS Latex. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Ionization Corrections For Low-Metallicity H II Regions and the Primordial Helium Abundance
Helium and hydrogen recombination lines observed in low-metallicity,
extragalactic H II regions provide the data used to infer the primordial helium
mass fraction, Y_P. The ionization corrections for unseen neutral helium (or
hydrogen) are usually assumed to be absent; i.e., the ionization correction
factor is taken to be unity (icf = 1). In this paper we revisit the question of
the icf for H II regions ionized by clusters of young, hot, metal-poor stars.
Our key result is that for the H II regions used in the determination of Y_P,
there is a ``reverse'' ionization correction: icf < 1. We explore the effect on
the icf of more realistic inhomogeneous H II region models and find that for
those regions ionized by young stars, with ``hard'' radiation spectra, the icf
is reduced further below unity. In Monte Carlos using H II region data from the
literature (Izotov and Thuan 1998) we estimate a reduction in the published
value of Y_P of order 0.003, which is roughly twice as large as the quoted
statistical error in the Y_P determination.Comment: 23 pages, 2 postscript figures; ApJ accepted; minor change
Disordered Bose Einstein Condensates with Interaction in One Dimension
We study the effects of random scatterers on the ground state of the
one-dimensional Lieb-Liniger model of interacting bosons on the unit interval
in the Gross-Pitaevskii regime. We prove that Bose Einstein condensation
survives even a strong random potential with a high density of scatterers. The
character of the wave function of the condensate, however, depends in an
essential way on the interplay between randomness and the strength of the
two-body interaction. For low density of scatterers or strong interactions the
wave function extends over the whole interval. High density of scatterers and
weak interaction, on the other hand, leads to localization of the wave function
in a fragmented subset of the interval
- …