Related papers: A Bayesian direct method implementation to fit emi…
We have combined the detailed He I recombination model of Smits with the collisional transitions of Sawey & Berrington in order to produce new accurate helium emissivities that include the effects of collisional excitation from both the 2…
The paper presents a simplified formula to determine an electron temperature, Te(He I), for planetary nebulae (PNe) using the He I 7281/6678 line flux ratio. In our previous studies of Te(He I) (Zhang et al. 2005), we used the He I line…
We present near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the high-intensity HeI 10830 emission line in 45 low-metallicity HII regions. We combined these NIR data with spectroscopic data in the optical range to derive the primordial He…
We have derived a primordial helium abundance of Yp = 0.2477 +- 0.0029, based on new atomic physics computations of the recombination coefficients of He I and of the collisional excitation of the H I Balmer lines together with observations…
Accurately determining the elemental abundances of a low metallicity nebula strongly depends on measuring the density (n$_e$) and temperature (T$_e$) of the gas. Because these two parameters are inherently degenerate when derived solely…
We present a new detailed model of the He I collisional-recombination spectrum based on the most up-to-date atomic data. The model accounts for radiative transfer effects and the influence of a non-zero optical depth in He I lines arising…
We calculate the recombination spectra of the He-like ions He~I, C~V, N~VI, O~VII, Ne~IX, Mg~XI, Si~XIII, S~XV, Ar~XVII, Ca~XIX, and Fe~XXV. We include the following physical processes: radiative recombination, dielectronic recombination,…
This paper describes a new determination of the primordial helium abundance (Y_P), based on the abundance analysis of five metal-poor extragalactic HII regions. For three regions of the sample (SBS 0335-052, I Zw 18, and H29) we present…
Observational measures of the primordial helium mass fraction, $Y_{\rm P}$, are of interest for cosmology and fundamental particle physics. Current measures obtained from H II regions agree with the Standard Model prediction to…
The precision measurement of the primordial helium abundance $Y_p$ is a powerful probe of the early Universe. The most common way to determine $Y_p$ is analyses of observations of metal-poor \HII regions found in blue compact dwarf…
We introduce a new statistical method to estimate the primordial helium abundance, Y_p from observed abundances in a sample of galaxies which have experienced stellar helium enrichment. Rather than using linear regression on metal abundance…
Cosmological models can be constrained by determining primordial abundances. Accurate predictions of the He I spectrum are needed to determine the primordial helium abundance to a precision of $< 1$% in order to constrain Big Bang…
This paper presents a study of the dependence of the simulated intensities of recombination lines from hydrogen and helium atoms on the number of $n\ell$-resolved principal quantum numbers included in the calculations. We simulate hydrogen…
Determinations of the primordial helium abundance are used in precision cosmological tests. These require highly accurate He I recombination rate coefficients. Here we reconsider the formation of He I recombination lines in the low-density…
We present Keck NIRSPEC and Keck NIRES spectroscopy of sixteen metal-poor galaxies that have pre-existing optical observations. The near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy specifically targets the HeI 10830A emission line, due to its sensitivity…
We present high signal-to-noise spectrophotometric observations of seven luminous HII galaxies. The observations have been made with the use of a double-arm spectrograph which provides spectra with a wide wavelength coverage, from 3400 to…
We verified the validity of the empirical method to derive the 4He abundance used in our previous papers by applying it to CLOUDY (v13.01) models. Using newly published HeI emissivities, for which we present convenient fits as well as the…
We present observations and models of the behaviour of the HI and HeI lines between 1.6 and 2.2um in a small sample of compact HII regions. As in our previous papers on planetary nebulae, we find that the `pure' 1.7007um 4^3D-3^3P and…
We calculate the He I case B recombination cascade spectrum using improved radiative and collisional data. We present new emissivities over a range of electron temperatures and densities. The differences between our results and the current…
Currently, the primordial helium abundance is best estimated through spectroscopic observations of H II regions in metal-poor galaxies. However these determinations are limited by several systematic uncertainties which ultimately limit our…