Analyzing the Abundance Discrepancy Problem in HII Regions with Photoionization Modeling

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nemer, Ahmad, Mendez-Delgado, J. E., Sattler, Natascha, Blanc, Guillermo A., Singh, Amrita, Kreckel, Kathryn, Gelfand, Joseph D., Drory, Niv
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914993383931904
author Nemer, Ahmad
Mendez-Delgado, J. E.
Sattler, Natascha
Blanc, Guillermo A.
Singh, Amrita
Kreckel, Kathryn
Gelfand, Joseph D.
Drory, Niv
author_facet Nemer, Ahmad
Mendez-Delgado, J. E.
Sattler, Natascha
Blanc, Guillermo A.
Singh, Amrita
Kreckel, Kathryn
Gelfand, Joseph D.
Drory, Niv
contents Understanding the complex ionization structure and chemical composition of \hii\ regions poses a significant challenge in astrophysics. The abundance discrepancy problem, characterized by inconsistencies between abundances derived from recombination lines (RLs) and collisionally excited lines (CELs), has long been a puzzle in the field. In this theoretical study, we present novel photoionization models that incorporate temperature, density, and chemical inhomogeneities within a single cloud to comprehensively address this discrepancy. By accounting for the intricate interplay between ionization, excitation, and chemistry, our models successfully reproduce both observed RLs and CELs with with an average difference between our models and the observations of 25% -- within uncertainties inherent in Galactic archival long-slit and new SDSS-V Local Volume Mapper observations. Through comparisons between generic inhomogeneous model predictions and observations, demonstrating the ability of our theoretical framework to analyze the abundance discrepancy problem within \hii\ regions. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating spatially resolved temperature, density, and chemical structures when interpreting the physical processes governing emission line spectra in these astrophysical environments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_20819
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Analyzing the Abundance Discrepancy Problem in HII Regions with Photoionization Modeling
Nemer, Ahmad
Mendez-Delgado, J. E.
Sattler, Natascha
Blanc, Guillermo A.
Singh, Amrita
Kreckel, Kathryn
Gelfand, Joseph D.
Drory, Niv
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Understanding the complex ionization structure and chemical composition of \hii\ regions poses a significant challenge in astrophysics. The abundance discrepancy problem, characterized by inconsistencies between abundances derived from recombination lines (RLs) and collisionally excited lines (CELs), has long been a puzzle in the field. In this theoretical study, we present novel photoionization models that incorporate temperature, density, and chemical inhomogeneities within a single cloud to comprehensively address this discrepancy. By accounting for the intricate interplay between ionization, excitation, and chemistry, our models successfully reproduce both observed RLs and CELs with with an average difference between our models and the observations of 25% -- within uncertainties inherent in Galactic archival long-slit and new SDSS-V Local Volume Mapper observations. Through comparisons between generic inhomogeneous model predictions and observations, demonstrating the ability of our theoretical framework to analyze the abundance discrepancy problem within \hii\ regions. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating spatially resolved temperature, density, and chemical structures when interpreting the physical processes governing emission line spectra in these astrophysical environments.
title Analyzing the Abundance Discrepancy Problem in HII Regions with Photoionization Modeling
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.20819