PHANGS-JWST First Results: Multi-wavelength view of feedback-driven bubbles (The Phantom Voids) across NGC 628
Abstract
We present a high-resolution view of bubbles within The Phantom Galaxy (NGC 628); a nearby (~10Mpc), star-forming (~2Msun/yr), face-on (i~9deg) grand-design spiral galaxy. With new data obtained as part of the PHANGS-JWST treasury program, we perform a detailed case-study of two regions of interest, one of which contains the largest and most prominent bubble in the galaxy (The Phantom Void; over 1kpc in diameter), and the other being a smaller region that may be the precursor to such a large bubble (The Precursor Phantom Void). When comparing to matched resolution Halpha observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we see that the ionized gas is brightest in the shells of both bubbles, and is coincident with the youngest (~1Myr) and most massive (~100,000Msun) stellar associations. We also find an older generation (~20Myr) of stellar associations is present within the bubble of The Phantom Void. From our kinematic analysis of the HI, H2 (CO) and HII gas across The Phantom Void, we infer a high expansion speed of around 15 to 50km/s. The large size and high expansion speed of The Phantom Void suggest that the driving mechanism is sustained stellar feedback due to multiple mechanisms, where early feedback first cleared a bubble (as we observe now in The Precursor Phantom Void), and since then SNe have been exploding within the cavity, and have accelerated the shell. Finally, comparison to simulations shows a striking resemblance to our JWST observations, and suggests that such large-scale stellar feedback-driven bubbles should be common within other galaxies.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2212.00812,
title = {PHANGS-JWST First Results: Multi-wavelength view of feedback-driven bubbles (The Phantom Voids) across NGC 628},
author = {Ashley T. Barnes and Elizabeth J. Watkins and Sharon E. Meidt and Kathryn Kreckel and Mattia C. Sormani and Robin G. Tress and Simon C. O. Glover and Frank Bigiel and Rupali Chandar and Eric Emsellem and Janice C. Lee and Adam K. Leroy and Karin M. Sandstrom and Eva Schinnerer and Erik W. Rosolowsky and Francesco Belfiore and Guillermo Blanc and Mederic Boquien and Jakob S. den Brok and Yixian Cao and Mélanie Chevance and Daniel A. Dale and Oleg Egorov and Cosima Eibensteiner and Kathryn Grasha and Brent Groves and Hamid Hassani and Jonathan Henshaw and Sarah Jeffreson and Maria Jesus Jimenez-Donaire and Benjamin W. Keller and Ralf S. Klessen and Eric W. Koch and J. M. Diederik Kruijssen and Kirsten L. Larson and Jing Li and Daizhong Liu and Laura A. Lopez and Eric J. Murphy and Lukas Neumann and Jerome Pety and Francesca Pinna and Miguel Querejeta and Florent Renaud and Toshiki Saito and Sumit Sarbadhicary and Amy Sardone and Rowan J. Smith and Sophia K. Stuber and Jiayi Sun and David A. Thilker and Antonio Usero and Bradley C. Whitmore and Thomas G. Williams},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.00812},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
12 pages total, 8 figures, and 1 table. Accepted as part of a PHANGS-JWST Focus Issue to appear in ApJ