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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
Spaxel analysis: Probing the physics of star formation in ultraluminous infrared galaxies
Astrophysics and Space Science, Volume 350, No. 2, Year 2014
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Description
This paper presents a detailed spectral pixel (spaxel) analysis of the ten Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) previously observed with the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS), an integral field spectrograph mounted on the ANU 2.3 m telescope, and for which an abundance gradient analysis has already been presented by Rich et al. (Astrophys. J., 753:5, 2012). Here we use the strong emission line analysis techniques developed by Dopita et al. (Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., accepted, 2013) to measure the ionisation parameter and the oxygen abundance in each spaxel. In addition, we use the observed Hα flux to determine the surface rate of star formation (M⊙yr-1kpc-2) and use the [S II] λλ6717/6731 ratio to estimate the local pressure in the ionised plasma. We discuss the correlations discovered between these physical quantities, and use them to infer aspects of the physics of star formation in these extreme star forming environments. In particular, we find a correlation between the star formation rate and the inferred ionisation parameter. We examine the possible reasons for this correlation, and determine that the most likely explanation is that the more active star forming regions have a different distribution of molecular gas which favour higher ionisation parameters in the ionised plasma. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Authors & Co-Authors
Dopita, Michael A.
Australia, Canberra
The Australian National University
Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
King Abdulaziz University
United States, Honolulu
University Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
Rich, Jeffrey
United States, Pasadena
Carnegie Observatories
Vogt, F. P.A.
Australia, Canberra
The Australian National University
Kewley, Lisa J.
Australia, Canberra
The Australian National University
United States, Honolulu
University Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
Ho, I. Ting
United States, Honolulu
University Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
Basurah, Hassan M.
Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
King Abdulaziz University
Ali, Alaa
Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
King Abdulaziz University
Amer, M. A.
Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
King Abdulaziz University
Statistics
Citations: 8
Authors: 8
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1007/s10509-013-1753-2
ISSN:
0004640X
e-ISSN:
1572946X
Research Areas
Environmental