Recovering the properties of the interstellar medium through integrated spectroscopy: application to the z~0 ECO volume-limited star-forming galaxy sample

Fuente: arXiv

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Lebouteiller, V., Richardson, C. T., Polimera, M. S., Carr, D. S., Hutchens, Z. L., Kannappan, S. J., Ramambason, L., Moffett, A. J., Varese, M., Madden, S. C.
Format:	Preprint
Published:	2024
Subjects:	Astrophysics of Galaxies
Online Access:	Acceder al recurso
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

_version_	1866929741105201152
author	Lebouteiller, V. Richardson, C. T. Polimera, M. S. Carr, D. S. Hutchens, Z. L. Kannappan, S. J. Ramambason, L. Moffett, A. J. Varese, M. Madden, S. C.
author_facet	Lebouteiller, V. Richardson, C. T. Polimera, M. S. Carr, D. S. Hutchens, Z. L. Kannappan, S. J. Ramambason, L. Moffett, A. J. Varese, M. Madden, S. C.
contents	Deriving physical parameters from integrated galaxy spectra is paramount to interpret the cosmic evolution of star formation, chemical enrichment, and energetic sources. We develop modeling techniques to characterize the ionized gas properties in the subset of 2052 star-forming galaxies from the volume-limited, dwarf-dominated, z~0 ECO catalog. The MULTIGRIS statistical framework is used to evaluate the performance of various models using strong lines as constraints. The reference model involves physical parameters distributed as power-laws with free parameter boundaries. Specifically, we use combinations of 1D photoionization models (i.e., considering the propagation of radiation toward a single cloud) to match optical HII region lines, in order to provide probability density functions of the inferred parameters. The inference predicts non-uniform physical conditions within galaxies. The integrated spectra of most galaxies are dominated by relatively low-excitation gas with a metallicity around 0.3 solar. Using the average metallicity in galaxies, we provide a new fit to the mass-metallicity relationship which is in line with direct abundance method determinations from the calibrated range at low metallicity to stacks at high metallicity. The average metallicity shows a weakly bimodal distribution which may be due related to external (e.g., refueling of non-cluster early-type galaxies above ~10^9.5 solar masses) or internal processes (more efficient star-formation in metal-rich regions). The specific line set used for inference affects the results and we identify potential issues with the use of the [SII] line doublet. Complex modelling approaches are limited by the inherent 1D model database as well as caveats regarding the gas geometry. Our results highlight, however, the possibility to extract useful and significant information from integrated spectra.
format	Preprint
id	arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_15860
institution	arXiv
publishDate	2024
record_format	arxiv
spellingShingle	Recovering the properties of the interstellar medium through integrated spectroscopy: application to the z~0 ECO volume-limited star-forming galaxy sample Lebouteiller, V. Richardson, C. T. Polimera, M. S. Carr, D. S. Hutchens, Z. L. Kannappan, S. J. Ramambason, L. Moffett, A. J. Varese, M. Madden, S. C. Astrophysics of Galaxies Deriving physical parameters from integrated galaxy spectra is paramount to interpret the cosmic evolution of star formation, chemical enrichment, and energetic sources. We develop modeling techniques to characterize the ionized gas properties in the subset of 2052 star-forming galaxies from the volume-limited, dwarf-dominated, z~0 ECO catalog. The MULTIGRIS statistical framework is used to evaluate the performance of various models using strong lines as constraints. The reference model involves physical parameters distributed as power-laws with free parameter boundaries. Specifically, we use combinations of 1D photoionization models (i.e., considering the propagation of radiation toward a single cloud) to match optical HII region lines, in order to provide probability density functions of the inferred parameters. The inference predicts non-uniform physical conditions within galaxies. The integrated spectra of most galaxies are dominated by relatively low-excitation gas with a metallicity around 0.3 solar. Using the average metallicity in galaxies, we provide a new fit to the mass-metallicity relationship which is in line with direct abundance method determinations from the calibrated range at low metallicity to stacks at high metallicity. The average metallicity shows a weakly bimodal distribution which may be due related to external (e.g., refueling of non-cluster early-type galaxies above ~10^9.5 solar masses) or internal processes (more efficient star-formation in metal-rich regions). The specific line set used for inference affects the results and we identify potential issues with the use of the [SII] line doublet. Complex modelling approaches are limited by the inherent 1D model database as well as caveats regarding the gas geometry. Our results highlight, however, the possibility to extract useful and significant information from integrated spectra.
title	Recovering the properties of the interstellar medium through integrated spectroscopy: application to the z~0 ECO volume-limited star-forming galaxy sample
topic	Astrophysics of Galaxies
url	https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15860