Context. The morphological, spectroscopic, and kinematical properties of the warm interstellar medium (wim) in early-type galaxies (ETGs) hold key observational constraints to nuclear activity and the buildup history of these massive, quiescent systems. High-quality integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data with a wide spectral and spatial coverage, such as those from the CALIFA survey, offer an unprecedented opportunity for advancing our understanding of the wim in ETGs. Aims. This article centers on a 2D investigation of the wim component in 32 nearby ( < ∼ 150 Mpc) ETGs from CALIFA, complementing a previous 1D analysis of the same sample. Methods. The analysis presented here includes Hα intensity and equivalent width (EW) maps and radial profiles, diagnostic emission-line ratios, and ionized-gas and stellar kinematics. It is supplemented by τ-ratio maps, which are a more efficient means to quantify the role of photoionization by the post-AGB stellar component than alternative mechanisms (e.g., AGN, low-level star formation). Results. Confirming and strengthening our previous conclusions, we find that ETGs span a broad continuous sequence in the properties of their wim, exemplified by two characteristic classes. The first (type i) comprises systems with a nearly constant EW(Hα) in their extranuclear component, which quantitatively agrees with (but is no proof of) the hypothesis that photoionization by the post-AGB stellar component is the main driver of extended wim emission. The second class (type ii) stands for virtually wim-evacuated ETGs with a very low (≤0.5 Å), outwardly increasing EW(Hα). These two classes appear indistinguishable from one another by their LINER-specific emission-line ratios in their extranuclear component. Here we extend the tentative classification we proposed previously by the type i+, which is assigned to a subset of type i ETGs exhibiting ongoing low-level star-forming activity in their periphery. This finding along with faint traces of localized star formation in the extranuclear component of several of our sample galaxies points to a non-negligible contribution by OB stars to the global ionizing photon budget in ETGs. Additionally, our data again highlight the diversity of ETGs in their gaseous and stellar kinematics. While in one half of our sample, gas and stars show similar (yet not necessarily identical) velocity patterns that are both dominated by rotation along the major galaxy axis, our analysis also documents several cases of kinematical decoupling between gas and stars, or rotation along the minor galaxy axis. We point out that the generally very low ( < ∼ 1 Å) EW(Hα) of ETGs requires a careful quantitative assessment of potential observational and analysis biases in studies of their wim. With standard emission-line fitting tools, Balmer emission lines become progressively difficult to detect below an EW(Hα) ∼ 3 Å, therefore our current understanding of the presence and 2D emission patterns and kinematics of the diffuse wim ETGs may be severely incomplete. We demons...

Based on a combined analysis of SDSS imaging and CALIFA integral field spectroscopy data, we report on the detection of faint (24 < µ r mag/ < 26) star-forming spiral-arm-like features in the periphery of three nearby early-type galaxies (ETGs). These features are of considerable interest because they document the still ongoing inside-out growth of some local ETGs and may add valuable observational insight into the origin and evolution of spiral structure in triaxial stellar systems. A characteristic property of the nebular component in the studied ETGs, classified i+, is a two-radial-zone structure, with the inner zone that displays faint (EW(Hα) 1 Å) low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) properties, and the outer one (3 Å < EW(Hα) < ∼ 20 Å) H-region characteristics. This spatial segregation of nebular emission in two physically distinct concentric zones calls for an examination of aperture effects in studies of type i+ ETGs with single-fiber spectroscopic data.

Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) studies based on CALIFA survey data have recently revealed ongoing low-level star formation (SF) in the periphery of a small fraction (∼10%) of local early-type galaxies (ETGs), witnessing a still ongoing inside-out galaxy growth process. A distinctive property of the nebular component in these ETGs, classified i+, is a structure with two radial zones, the inner of which displays LINER emission with a Hα equivalent width EW(Hα) 1 Å, the outer (3 Å < EW(Hα) < ∼ 20 Å) H-region characteristics. Using CALIFA IFS data, we empirically demonstrate that the confinement of nebular emission to the galaxy periphery leads to a strong aperture (or, correspondingly, redshift) bias in spectroscopic single-fiber studies of type i+ ETGs: at low redshift (z < ∼ 0.45), SDSS spectroscopy is restricted to the inner (SF-devoid LINER) zone, which causes the galaxies to be erroneously classified as "retired", that is, systems entirely lacking SF, and whose faint nebular emission is solely powered by the post-AGB stellar component. The SDSS aperture progressively encompasses the outer SF zone only at higher z, at which the galaxies are unambiguously classified as "composite SF/LINER". We also empirically demonstrate that the principal effect of a decreasing spectroscopic aperture on the classification of i+ ETGs through standard [N]/Hα vs.[O]/Hβ emission-line (BPT) ratios consists of a monotonic shift upward and to the right precisely along the upper right wing of the "seagull" distribution on the BPT plane, that is, along the pathway connecting composite SF/H galaxies with AGN/LINERs. Motivated by these observational insights, we also investigate theoretically observational biases in aperture-limited studies of inside-out growing galaxies as a function of z. To this end, we devise a simple 1D model that involves an outward-propagating exponentially decreasing SF process since z ∼ 10 and reproduces the radial extent and two-zone EW(Hα) distribution of local i+ ETGs. By simulating the 3 spectroscopic SDSS aperture in this model, we find that SDSS studies at z < ∼ 1 are progressively restricted to the inner (SF-devoid LINER) zone and miss an increasingly larger portion of the Hα-emitting periphery. This leads to the incorrect spectroscopic classification of these inside-out assembling galaxies as retired ETG/LINERs and also to a severe underestimation of their total star formation rate (SFR) in a manner inversely related to z. More specifically, the SFR inferred from the Hα luminosity registered within the SDSS fiber is reduced by 50% at z ∼ 0.86, reaching only 0.1% of its integral value at z = 0.1. We argue that the aperture-driven biases described above pertain to any morphological analog of i+ ETGs (e.g., SF-quiescent bulges within star-forming disks), regardless of whether it is viewed from the perspective of inside-out growth or inside-out SF quenching, and might be of considerable relevance to galaxy taxonomy and studies of the cosmic SFR density as a function of z.