Mapping Electron Temperature Variations across a Spiral Arm in NGC 1672
Article
Ho, I.-Ting, Kreckel, Kathryn, Meidt, Sharon E., Groves, Brent, Blanc, Guillermo A., Bigiel, Frank, Dale, Daniel A., Emsellem, Eric, Glover, Simon C. O., Grasha, Kathryn, Kewley, Lisa J., Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik, Lang, Philipp, McElroy, Rebecca, Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter, Sanchez-Blazquez, Patricia, Sandstrom, Karin, Santoro, Francesco, Schinnerer, Eva and Schruba, Andreas. 2019. "Mapping Electron Temperature Variations across a Spiral Arm in NGC 1672." The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics. 885. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab4feb
Article Title | Mapping Electron Temperature Variations across a Spiral Arm in NGC 1672 |
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ERA Journal ID | 1057 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Ho, I.-Ting, Kreckel, Kathryn, Meidt, Sharon E., Groves, Brent, Blanc, Guillermo A., Bigiel, Frank, Dale, Daniel A., Emsellem, Eric, Glover, Simon C. O., Grasha, Kathryn, Kewley, Lisa J., Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik, Lang, Philipp, McElroy, Rebecca, Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter, Sanchez-Blazquez, Patricia, Sandstrom, Karin, Santoro, Francesco, Schinnerer, Eva and Schruba, Andreas |
Journal Title | The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics |
Journal Citation | 885 |
Article Number | L31 |
Number of Pages | 7 |
Year | 2019 |
Publisher | IOP Publishing |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 0004-637X |
1538-4357 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab4feb |
Web Address (URL) | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab4feb |
Abstract | We report one of the first extragalactic observations of electron temperature variations across a spiral arm. Using Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer mosaic observations of the nearby galaxy NGC 1672, we measure the [N ii]λ5755 auroral line in a sample of 80 H ii regions in the eastern spiral arm of NGC 1672. We discover systematic temperature variations as a function of distance perpendicular to the spiral arm. The electron temperature is lowest on the spiral arm itself and highest on the downstream side. Photoionization models of different metallicity, pressure, and age of the ionizing source are explored to understand what properties of the interstellar medium drive the observed temperature variations. An azimuthally varying metallicity appears to be the most likely cause of the temperature variations. The electron temperature measurements solidify recent discoveries of azimuthal variations of oxygen abundance based on strong lines, and rule out the possibility that the abundance variations are artifacts of the strong-line calibrations. |
Keywords | Interstellar medium; H II regions; Spiral arms; Spiral galaxies; Chemical abundances; Interstellar abundances |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 510102. Astronomical instrumentation |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany |
Heidelberg University, Germany | |
University of Gent, Belgium | |
University of Western Australia | |
Australian National University | |
Carnegie Institution for Science, United States | |
University of Chile, Chile | |
University of Bonn, Germany | |
Aarhus University, Denmark | |
European Southern Observatory (ESO), Germany | |
University of Lyon, France | |
University of Hawaii, United States | |
Munich University Observatory, Germany | |
Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain | |
University of California San Diego, United States | |
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany |
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