scholarly journals The prospects for observing [O iii] 52 micron emission from galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization

2021 ◽  
Vol 504 (1) ◽  
pp. 723-730
Author(s):  
Shengqi Yang ◽  
Adam Lidz ◽  
Gergö Popping
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Emission Line ◽  
Parameter Space ◽  
Gas Density ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Redshift Galaxies

ABSTRACT The [O iii] 88 $\mu$m fine-structure emission line has been detected into the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) from star-forming galaxies at redshifts 6 < z ≲ 9 with ALMA. These measurements provide valuable information regarding the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the highest redshift galaxies discovered thus far. The [O iii] 88 $\mu$m line observations leave, however, a degeneracy between the gas density and metallicity in these systems. Here, we quantify the prospects for breaking this degeneracy using future ALMA observations of the [O iii] 52 $\mu$m line. Among the current set of 10 [O iii] 88 $\mu$m emitters at 6 < z ≲ 9, we forecast 52 $\mu$m detections (at 6σ) in SXDF-NB1006-2, B14-6566, J0217-0208, and J1211-0118 within on-source observing times of 2–10 h, provided their gas densities are larger than about nH ≳ 102–103 cm−3. Other targets generally require much longer integration times for a 6σ detection. Either successful detections of the 52 $\mu$m line or reliable upper limits will lead to significantly tighter constraints on ISM parameters. The forecasted improvements are as large as ∼3 dex in gas density and ∼1 dex in metallicity for some regions of parameter space. We suggest SXDF-NB1006-2 as a promising first target for 52 $\mu$m line measurements. We discuss how such measurements will help in understanding the mass–metallicity relationship during the EoR.

scholarly journals Nuclear molecular gas in the Virgo Cluster S0 galaxy NGC 4710

1993 ◽  
Vol 153 ◽  
pp. 439-440
Author(s):  
J.M. Wrobel ◽  
J.D.P. Kenney
Keyword(s):  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Emission Line ◽  
Optical Emission ◽  
Virgo Cluster ◽  
Gas Analysis ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
The Galaxy

The CO(J=1→0) emission from NGC 4710, a star–forming S0 galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, was synthesized with spatial and velocity resolutions of 7″ and 26 km s—1, respectively. The CO shows a compact morphology and co–rotates with the galaxy's stars and nuclear optical emission line gas. Analysis of the CO distribution and kinematics indicates that the nuclear molecular gas is probably gravitationally unstable, and this may explain why the galaxy is presently forming stars. Four possible origins for the nuclear molecular gas are considered. An origin via bulge star ejecta being deposited into a residual interstellar medium is favored.

scholarly journals The Galactic center: not an active galactic nucleus

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S303) ◽  
pp. 54-58
Author(s):  
Deokkeun An ◽  
Solange V. Ramírez ◽  
Kris Sellgren
Keyword(s):  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Emission Line ◽  
Active Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Active Galactic Nucleus ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Extensive Area ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Nearby Galaxies

AbstractWe present 10 μm – 35μm Spitzer spectra of the interstellar medium in the central molecular zone (CMZ), the central 210 pc × 60 pc of the Galactic center (GC). We present maps of the CMZ in ionic and H2 emission, covering a more extensive area than earlier spectroscopic surveys in this region. We compare diagnostic line ratios measured in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey to our data. Previous work shows that forbidden line ratios can distinguish star-forming galaxies from low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Our GC line ratios agree with star-forming galaxies and not with LINERs or AGNs.

scholarly journals Local analogs of high-redshift galaxies: Interstellar medium conditions

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (S321) ◽  
pp. 333-335
Author(s):  
Fuyan Bian ◽  
Lisa J. Kewley ◽  
Michael A. Dopita ◽  
Stephanie Juneau
Keyword(s):  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Emission Line ◽  
Surface Density ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Electron Densities ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Diagnostic Diagram ◽  
Nearby Galaxies ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Redshift Galaxies

AbstractLocal analog galaxies play an important role in understanding the properties of high-redshift galaxies. We present a method to select a type of local analog that closely resembles the ionized interstellar medium conditions in high-redshift galaxies. These galaxies are selected based on their locations in the [O III]/Hβ versus [N II]/Hα nebular emission-line diagnostic diagram. The ionization parameters and electron densities in these analogs are comparable to those in z ≃ 2 − 3 galaxies, but higher than those in normal SDSS galaxies by ≃ 0.6 dex and ≃ 0.9 dex, respectively. We find that the high sSFR and SFR surface density can enhance the electron densities and the ionization parameters, but still cannot fully explain the difference in ISM condition between nearby galaxies and the local analogs/high-redshift galaxies.

scholarly journals Millimeter- and submillimeter-wave spectroscopy of thioformamide and interstellar search toward Sgr B2(N)

2020 ◽  
Vol 642 ◽  
pp. A29 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Motiyenko ◽  
A. Belloche ◽  
R. T. Garrod ◽  
L. Margulès ◽  
H. S. P. Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Rotational Transition ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Mass Star ◽  
Rotational Spectrum ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Preferential Formation ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Interesting Candidate ◽  
Centrifugal Distortion Constants

Context. Thioformamide NH2CHS is a sulfur-bearing analog of formamide NH2CHO. The latter was detected in the interstellar medium back in the 1970s. Most of the sulfur-containing molecules detected in the interstellar medium are analogs of corresponding oxygen-containing compounds. Therefore, thioformamide is an interesting candidate for a search in the interstellar medium. Aims. A previous study of the rotational spectrum of thioformamide was limited to frequencies below 70 GHz and to transitions with J ≤ 3. The aim of this study is to provide accurate spectroscopic parameters and rotational transition frequencies for thioformamide to enable astronomical searches for this molecule using radio telescope arrays at millimeter wavelengths. Methods. The rotational spectrum of thioformamide was measured and analyzed in the frequency range 150−660 GHz using the Lille spectrometer. We searched for thioformamide toward the high-mass star-forming region Sagittarius (Sgr) B2(N) using the ReMoCA spectral line survey carried out with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Results. Accurate rigid rotor and centrifugal distortion constants were obtained from the analysis of the ground state of parent, 34S, 13C, and 15N singly substituted isotopic species of thioformamide. In addition, for the parent isotopolog, the lowest two excited vibrational states, v12 = 1 and v9 = 1, were analyzed using a model that takes Coriolis coupling into account. Thioformamide was not detected toward the hot cores Sgr B2(N1S) and Sgr B2(N2). The sensitive upper limits indicate that thioformamide is nearly three orders of magnitude at least less abundant than formamide. This is markedly different from methanethiol, which is only about two orders of magnitude less abundant than methanol in both sources. Conclusions. The different behavior shown by methanethiol versus thioformamide may be caused by the preferential formation of the latter (on grains) at late times and low temperatures, when CS abundances are depressed. This reduces the thioformamide-to-formamide ratio, because the HCS radical is not as readily available under these conditions.

scholarly journals Disentangling the Physical Origin of Emission Line Ratio Offsets at High Redshift with Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy

2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Jessie Hirtenstein ◽  
Tucker Jones ◽  
Ryan L. Sanders ◽  
Crystal L. Martin ◽  
M. C. Cooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emission Line ◽  
Hubble Space Telescope ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Emission Spectra ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Spatially Resolved ◽  
Resolution Element ◽  
Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy ◽  
Redshift Galaxies

Abstract We present spatially resolved Hubble Space Telescope grism spectroscopy of 15 galaxies at z ∼ 0.8 drawn from the DEEP2 survey. We analyze Hα+[N ii], [S ii], and [S iii] emission on kiloparsec scales to explore which mechanisms are powering emission lines at high redshifts, testing which processes may be responsible for the well-known offset of high-redshift galaxies from the z ∼ 0 locus in the [O iii]/Hβ versus [N ii]/Hα Baldwin—Phillips—Terlevich (BPT) excitation diagram. We study spatially resolved emission-line maps to examine evidence for active galactic nuclei (AGN), shocks, diffuse ionized gas (DIG), or escaping ionizing radiation, all of which may contribute to the BPT offsets observed in our sample. We do not find significant evidence of AGN in our sample and quantify that, on average, AGN would need to contribute ∼25% of the Hα flux in the central resolution element in order to cause the observed BPT offsets. We find weak (2σ) evidence of DIG emission at low surface brightnesses, yielding an implied total DIG emission fraction of ∼20%, which is not significant enough to be the dominant emission line driver in our sample. In general we find that the observed emission is dominated by star-forming H ii regions. We discuss trends with demographic properties and the possible role of α-enhanced abundance patterns in the emission spectra of high-redshift galaxies. Our results indicate that photoionization modeling with stellar population synthesis inputs is a valid tool to explore the specific star formation properties which may cause BPT offsets, to be explored in future work.

scholarly journals A dense, solar metallicity ISM in the z = 4.2 dusty star-forming galaxy SPT 0418−47

2019 ◽  
Vol 631 ◽  
pp. A167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos De Breuck ◽  
Axel Weiß ◽  
Matthieu Béthermin ◽  
Daniel Cunningham ◽  
Yordanka Apostolovski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Line Ratio ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
Solar Metallicity ◽  
Fine Structure Lines ◽  
Compact Array

We present a study of six far-infrared fine structure lines in the z = 4.225 lensed dusty star-forming galaxy SPT 0418−47 to probe the physical conditions of its interstellar medium (ISM). In particular, we report Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) detections of the [OI] 145 μm and [OIII] 88 μm lines and Atacama Compact Array (ACA) detections of the [NII] 122 and 205 μm lines. The [OI] 145 μm/[CII] 158 μm line ratio is ∼5× higher compared to the average of local galaxies. We interpret this as evidence that the ISM is dominated by photo-dissociation regions with high gas densities. The line ratios, and in particular those of [OIII] 88 μm and [NII] 122 μm imply that the ISM in SPT 0418−47 is already chemically enriched to nearly solar metallicity. While the strong gravitational amplification was required to detect these lines with APEX, larger samples can be observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and should allow observers to determine if the dense, solar metallicity ISM is common among these highly star-forming galaxies.

scholarly journals Physical conditions in the diffuse interstellar medium of local and high-redshift galaxies: measurements based on the excitation of H2 rotational and C i  fine-structure levels

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (2) ◽  
pp. 1531-1549
Author(s):  
V V Klimenko ◽  
S A Balashev
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Magellanic Cloud ◽  
Number Density ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Redshift Galaxies

ABSTRACT We present the results of an analysis of the physical conditions (number density, intensity of UV field, kinetic temperature) in the cold H2-bearing interstellar medium of local and high-redshift galaxies. Our measurements are based on the fit to the observed population of H2 rotational levels and C i  fine-structure levels with the help of grids of numerical models calculated with the photon-dominated region (PDR) Meudon code. A joint analysis of low H2 rotational levels and C i  fine-structure levels breaks the degeneracy in the IUV−nH plane and provides significantly tighter constraints on the number density and intensity of the UV field. Using archive data from the VLT/UVES, KECK/HIRES, HST/STIS and FUSE telescopes, we selected 12 high-redshift damped Lyα systems (DLAs) in quasar spectra and 14 H2 absorption systems along the lines of sight towards stars in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Cloud galaxies. These systems have strong H2 components, with a column density log N(H2)/[cm−2] > 18 and associated C i  absorptions. We find that H2-bearing media in high-redshift DLAs and in local galaxies have similar values of the kinetic temperatures Tkin ∼ 100 K and number density 10−500 cm−3. However, the intensity of incident UV radiation in DLAs varies in a wide range (0.1−100 units of the Mathis field), while it is ∼0.1−3 units of the Mathis field for H2 systems in the Milky Way and Large and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies. The large dispersion of measured UV flux in DLAs is probably a consequence of the fact that the DLA sample probes galaxies selected from the overall galaxy population at high redshift, and therefore corresponds to a wide range of physical conditions.

scholarly journals Constraining photoionization models with a reprojected optical diagnostic diagram

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (4) ◽  
pp. 5749-5764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xihan Ji ◽  
Renbin Yan
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Active Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Line Ratio ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Optical Diagnostic ◽  
Diagnostic Diagram ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Nitrogen Abundance

ABSTRACT Optical diagnostic diagrams are powerful tools to separate different ionizing sources in galaxies. However, the model-constraining power of the most widely used diagrams is very limited and challenging to visualize. In addition, there have always been classification inconsistencies between diagrams based on different line ratios, and ambiguities between regions purely ionized by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and composite regions. We present a simple reprojection of the 3D line ratio space composed of [N ii]λ6583/H α, [S ii]λλ6716, 6731/H α, and [O iii]λ5007/H β, which reveals its model-constraining power and removes the ambiguity for the true composite objects. It highlights the discrepancy between many theoretical models and the data loci. With this reprojection, we can put strong constraints on the photoionization models and the secondary nitrogen abundance prescription. We find that a single nitrogen prescription cannot fit both the star-forming locus and AGN locus simultaneously, with the latter requiring higher N/O ratios. The true composite regions stand separately from both models. We can compute the fractional AGN contributions for the composite regions, and define demarcations with specific upper limits on contamination from AGN or star formation. When the discrepancy about nitrogen prescriptions gets resolved in the future, it would also be possible to make robust metallicity measurements for composite regions and AGNs.

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