Context. The diffuse ionized gas (DIG) constitutes the largest fraction of the total ionized interstellar matter in star-forming galaxies, but it is still unclear whether the ionization is driven predominantly by the ionizing radiation of hot massive stars, as in H II regions, or whether additional sources of ionization have to be considered. Key to understanding the ionization mechanisms in the DIG is the line emission by the ionized gas. Aims. We systematically explore a plausible subset of the parameter space involving effective temperatures and metallicities of the ionizing sources, the effects of the hardening of their radiation by surrounding "leaky" H II regions with different escape fractions, as well as different scenarios for the clumpiness of the DIG, and compute the resulting line strength ratios for a number of diagnostic optical emission lines. Methods. For the ionizing fluxes we computed a grid of stellar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from detailed, fully non-LTE model atmospheres that include the effects of stellar winds and line blocking and blanketing. To calculate the ionization and temperature structure in the interstellar gas we used spherically symmetric photoionization models and state-of-the-art three-dimensional (3D) non-LTE radiative transfer simulations, considering hydrogen, helium, and the most abundant metals. We first applied these methods to classical H II regions around hot stars, using the model SEDs at different metallicities and effective temperatures as ionizing fluxes, and compute the SEDs of the escaping radiation for different escape fractions of hydrogen-ionizing photons. In a second step, we studied the effects of the escaping radiation on the more dilute and extended DIG. Using 3D models simulating a section of a galactic spiral arm, we computed the ionization structure in the DIG for different scenarios for the inhomogeneity of the gas, assuming ionization by a stellar population SED based on plausible parameters. Results. We provide quantitative predictions of how the line ratios from H II regions and the DIG vary as a function of metallicity Z, stellar effective temperature T eff , and escape fraction f esc from the H II region. The range of predicted line ratios reinforces the hypothesis that the DIG is ionized by (filtered) radiation from hot stars. At one-tenth solar metallicity, radiation hardening is mostly due to hydrogen and helium, whereas at solar metallicity absorption by metals plays a significant role. The effects of hardening are seen primarily in the increase in the emission line ratios of the most important cooling lines of the gas, [N II]/Hβ and [O II]/Hβ at lower T eff , and [O III]/Hβ at higher T eff . For low T eff nearly the entire He I-ionizing radiation is absorbed in the H II regions, thereby preventing the formation of high ionization stages such as O III in the DIG. The ionization structure of the DIG depends strongly on both the clumping factor f cl = n 2 H / n H 2 and the large-scale distribution of the gas. In our simulations about 1...
Using the short-high module of the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have measured the [S iv] , thereby allowing an analysis of the neon to sulphur abundance ratio as well as the ionic abundance ratios Ne + /Ne ++ and S 3+ /S ++ . By extending our studies of H ii regions in M83 and M33 to the lower metallicity NGC 6822, we increase the reliability of the estimated Ne/S ratio. We find that the Ne/S ratio appears to be fairly universal, with not much variation about the ratio found for NGC 6822: the median (average) Ne/S ratio equals 11.6 (12.2±0.8). This value is in contrast to Asplund et al.'s currently best estimated value for the Sun: Ne/S = 6.5. In addition, we continue to test the predicted ionizing spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from various stellar atmosphere models by comparing model nebulae computed with these SEDs as inputs to our observational data, changing just the stellar atmosphere model abundances. Here we employ a new grid of SEDs computed with different metallicities: Solar, 0.4 Solar, and 0.1 Solar. As expected, these changes to the SED show similar trends to those seen upon changing just the nebular gas metallicities in our plasma simulations: lower metallicity results in higher ionization. This trend agrees with the observations.
GRAVITY is the second generation Very Large Telescope Interferometer instrument for precision narrow-angle astrometry and interferometric imaging in the Near Infra-Red (NIR). It shall provide precision astrometry of order 10 microarcseconds, and imaging capability at a few milliarcsecond resolution, and hence will revolutionise dynamical measurements of celestial objects. GRAVITY is currently in the last stages of its integration and tests in Garching at MPE, and will be delivered to the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) in 2015. We present here the instrument, with a particular focus on the components making use of fibres: integrated optics beam combiners, polarisation rotators, fibre differential delay lines, and the metrology.
Context. The first generation of stars, which formed directly from the primordial gas, is believed to have played a crucial role in the early phase of the epoch of reionization of the universe. Theoretical studies indicate that the initial mass function (IMF) of this first stellar population differs significantly from the present IMF, being top-heavy and thus allowing for the presence of supermassive stars with masses up to several thousand solar masses. The first generation of population III stars was therefore not only very luminous, but due to its lack of metals its emission of UV radiation considerably exceeded that of present stars. Because of the short lifetimes of these stars the metals produced in their cores were quickly returned to the environment, from which early population II stars with a different IMF and different spectral energy distributions (SEDs) were formed, already much earlier than the time at which the universe became completely reionized (at a redshift of z 6). Aims. Using a state-of-the-art model atmosphere code we calculate realistic SEDs of very massive stars (VMSs) of different metallicities to serve as input for the 3-dimensional radiative transfer code we have developed to simulate the temporal evolution of the ionization of the inhomogeneous interstellar and intergalactic medium, using multiple stellar clusters as sources of ionizing radiation. The ultimate objective of these simulations is not only to quantify the processes which are believed to have lead to the reionized state of the universe, but also to determine possible observational diagnostics to constrain the nature of the ionizing sources. Methods. The multifrequency treatment in our combination of 3d radiative transfer -based on ray-tracing -and time-dependent simulation of the ionization structure of hydrogen and helium allows, in principle, to deduce information about the spectral characteristics of the first generations of stars and their interaction with the surrounding gas on various scales. Results. As our tool can handle distributions of numerous radiative sources characterized by high resolution synthetic SEDs, and also yields occupation numbers of the required energy levels of the most important elements which are treated in non-LTE and are calculated consistently with the 3d radiative transfer, the ionization state of an inhomogeneous gaseous density structure can be calculated accurately. We further demonstrate that the increasing metallicity of the radiative sources in the transition from population III stars to population II stars has a strong impact on the hardness of the emitted spectrum, and hence on the reionization history of helium. Conclusions. A top-heavy stellar mass distribution characterized by VMSs forming in chemically evolved clusters of high core mass density may not only provide the progenitors of intermediate-mass and supermassive black holes (SMBHs), but also play an important role for the reionization of He ii. The number of VMSs required to reionize He ii by a redshift of z ∼ 2.5 ...
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