Mapping Multi-Phase Metals in Star-forming Galaxies: a spatially resolved UV + Optical Study of NGC 5253

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Main Authors: Abril-Melgarejo, Valentina, James, Bethan L., Aloisi, Alessandra, Mingozzi, Matilde, Lebouteiller, Vianney, Hernandez, Svea, Kumari, Nimisha
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Abril-Melgarejo, Valentina
James, Bethan L.
Aloisi, Alessandra
Mingozzi, Matilde
Lebouteiller, Vianney
Hernandez, Svea
Kumari, Nimisha
author_facet Abril-Melgarejo, Valentina
James, Bethan L.
Aloisi, Alessandra
Mingozzi, Matilde
Lebouteiller, Vianney
Hernandez, Svea
Kumari, Nimisha
contents We present a pioneering spatially-resolved, multi-phase gas abundance study on the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC~5253, targeting 10 star-forming (SF) clusters inside six FUV HST/COS pointings with co-spatial optical VLT/MUSE observations throughout the galaxy. The SF regions span a wide range of ages (1--15 Myr) and are distributed at different radii (50 -- 230 pc). We performed robust absorption-line profile fitting on the COS spectra, covering 1065--1430 Å in the FUV, allowing an accurate computation of neutral-gas abundances for 13 different ions sampling 8 elements. These values were then compared with the ionized-gas abundances, measured using the direct method on MUSE integrated spectra inside analog COS apertures. Our multi-phase, spatially resolved comparisons find abundances which are lower in the neutral gas than the ionized gas by 0.22 dex, 0.80 dex and 0.58 dex for log(O/H), log(N/H) and log(N/O), respectively. We modeled the chemical abundance distributions and evaluated correlations as a function of radius and age. It was found that while N, O and N/O abundances decrease as a function of age in the ionized gas, they increase with age in the neutral gas. No strong correlations for N, O or N/O were observed as a function of radius. The N/O and N/H offsets between the phases were found to decrease with age, providing evidence that chemical enrichment happens differentially, first in the ionized-gas phase around 2--5 Myrs (due to N-rich Wolf-Rayet stars) and then mixing out into the cold neutral gas on longer timescales of 10--15 Myr.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_16553
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mapping Multi-Phase Metals in Star-forming Galaxies: a spatially resolved UV + Optical Study of NGC 5253
Abril-Melgarejo, Valentina
James, Bethan L.
Aloisi, Alessandra
Mingozzi, Matilde
Lebouteiller, Vianney
Hernandez, Svea
Kumari, Nimisha
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We present a pioneering spatially-resolved, multi-phase gas abundance study on the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC~5253, targeting 10 star-forming (SF) clusters inside six FUV HST/COS pointings with co-spatial optical VLT/MUSE observations throughout the galaxy. The SF regions span a wide range of ages (1--15 Myr) and are distributed at different radii (50 -- 230 pc). We performed robust absorption-line profile fitting on the COS spectra, covering 1065--1430 Å in the FUV, allowing an accurate computation of neutral-gas abundances for 13 different ions sampling 8 elements. These values were then compared with the ionized-gas abundances, measured using the direct method on MUSE integrated spectra inside analog COS apertures. Our multi-phase, spatially resolved comparisons find abundances which are lower in the neutral gas than the ionized gas by 0.22 dex, 0.80 dex and 0.58 dex for log(O/H), log(N/H) and log(N/O), respectively. We modeled the chemical abundance distributions and evaluated correlations as a function of radius and age. It was found that while N, O and N/O abundances decrease as a function of age in the ionized gas, they increase with age in the neutral gas. No strong correlations for N, O or N/O were observed as a function of radius. The N/O and N/H offsets between the phases were found to decrease with age, providing evidence that chemical enrichment happens differentially, first in the ionized-gas phase around 2--5 Myrs (due to N-rich Wolf-Rayet stars) and then mixing out into the cold neutral gas on longer timescales of 10--15 Myr.
title Mapping Multi-Phase Metals in Star-forming Galaxies: a spatially resolved UV + Optical Study of NGC 5253
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.16553