Bibcode
López-Sánchez, Á. R.; Mesa-Delgado, A.; López-Martín, L.; Esteban, C.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 411, Issue 3, pp. 2076-2092.
Advertised on:
3
2011
Citations
42
Refereed citations
40
Description
We present results from integral field spectroscopy with the Potsdam
Multi-Aperture Spectrograph at the 3.5-m telescope at Calar Alto
Observatory of the intense star-forming region [HL90] 111 at the centre
of the starburst galaxy IC 10. We have obtained maps with a spatial
sampling of 1 × 1 arcsec2= 3.9× 3.9
pc2 of different emission lines and analysed the extinction,
physical conditions, nature of the ionization and chemical abundances of
the ionized gas, as well determined locally the age of the most recent
star formation event. By defining several apertures, we study the main
integrated properties of some regions within [HL90] 111. Two contiguous
spaxels show an unambiguous detection of the broad He IIλ4686
emission line, this feature seems to be produced by a single late-type
WN star. We also report a probable N and He enrichment in the precise
spaxels where the Wolf-Rayet (WR) features are detected. The enrichment
pattern is roughly consistent with that expected for the pollution of
the ejecta of a single or a very small number of WR stars. Furthermore,
this chemical pollution is very localized (˜2 arcsec ˜7.8
pc) and it should be difficult to detect in star-forming galaxies beyond
the Local Volume. We also discuss the use of the most common empirical
calibrations to estimate the oxygen abundances of the ionized gas in
nearby galaxies from 2D spectroscopic data. The ionization degree of the
gas plays an important role when applying these empirical methods, as
they tend to give lower oxygen abundances with increasing ionization
degree. Based on observations collected at the Centro Astrónomico
Hispano Alemán (CAHA) at Calar Alto, operated jointly by the
Max-Plank Institut für Astronomie and the Instituto de
Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC).Visiting Astronomer at the
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.
Related projects
Physics of Ionized Nebulae
The research that is being carried out by the group can be condensed into two main lines: 1) Study of the structure, dynamics, physical conditions and chemical evolution of Galactic and extragalactic ionized nebulae through detailed analysis and modelization of their spectra. Investigation of chemical composition gradients along the disk of our
Jorge
García Rojas