An Atlas of Star-Forming Galaxy Equivalent Widths
Abstract
We present an atlas of starburst galaxy emission lines spanning 10 orders of magnitude in ionizing flux and 7 orders of magnitude in hydrogen number density. Coupling SEDs from Starburst99 with photoionization calculations from Cloudy, we track 96 emission lines from 977 {\AA} to 205 m which are common to nebular regions, have been observed in H II regions, and serve as useful diagnostic lines. Each simulation grid displays equivalent widths and contains ~1.5x10 photoionization models calculated by supplying a spectral energy distribution, chemical abundances, dust content, and gas metallicity (ranging from 0.2 Z to 5.0 Z). Our simulations will prove useful in starburst emission line data analysis, especially regarding local starburst galaxies that show high ionization emission lines. One sample application of our atlas predicts that C IV 1549 will serve as a useful diagnostic emission line of vigorous star formation for coming James Webb Space Telescope observations predicting a peak equivalent width of approximately 316 {\AA}.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1709.05312,
title = {An Atlas of Star-Forming Galaxy Equivalent Widths},
author = {Helen Meskhidze and Chris T. Richardson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.05312},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
33 pages; 8 figures; 1 table; accepted to Astrophys. Space Sci