CLEAR: The Ionization and Chemical-enrichment Properties of Galaxies at 1.1 < z < 2.3

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

Dokumenter

  • Casey Papovich
  • Raymond C. Simons
  • Vicente Estrada-Carpenter
  • Jasleen Matharu
  • Ivelina Momcheva
  • Jonathan R. Trump
  • Bren E. Backhaus
  • Brammer, Gabriel
  • Nikko J. Cleri
  • Steven L. Finkelstein
  • Mauro Giavalisco
  • Zhiyuan Ji
  • Intae Jung
  • Lisa J. Kewley
  • David C. Nicholls
  • Norbert Pirzkal
  • Marc Rafelski
  • Benjamin Weiner

We use deep spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field-Camera 3 IR grisms combined with broadband photometry to study the stellar populations, gas ionization and chemical abundances in star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1.1-2.3. The data stem from the CANDELS Lyα Emission At Reionization (CLEAR) survey. At these redshifts, the grism spectroscopy measure the [O II] λ λ3727, 3729, [O III]λ λ4959, 5008, and Hβ strong emission features, which constrain the ionization parameter and oxygen abundance of the nebular gas. We compare the line-flux measurements to predictions from updated photoionization models (MAPPINGS V; Kewley et al.), which include an updated treatment of nebular gas pressure, log P / k = n e T e . Compared to low-redshift samples (z ∼ 0.2) at fixed stellar mass, log M * / M ⊙ = 9.4-9.8, the CLEAR galaxies at z = 1.35 (1.90) have lower gas-phase metallicity, Δ ( log Z ) = 0.25 (0.35) dex, and higher ionization parameters, Δ ( log q ) = 0.25 (0.35) dex, where U ≡ q/c. We provide updated analytic calibrations between the [O III], [O II], and Hβ emission-line ratios, metallicity, and ionization parameter. The CLEAR galaxies show that at fixed stellar mass, the gas ionization parameter is correlated with the galaxy specific star formation rates, where Δ log q ≃ 0.4 × Δ ( log sSFR ) , derived from changes in the strength of galaxy Hβ equivalent width. We interpret this as a consequence of higher gas densities, lower gas covering fractions, combined with a higher escape fraction of H-ionizing photons. We discuss both tests to confirm these assertions and implications this has for future observations of galaxies at higher redshifts.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer22
TidsskriftAstrophysical Journal
Vol/bind937
Udgave nummer1
Antal sider33
ISSN0004-637X
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 20 sep. 2022

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
We thank our colleagues on the CLEAR team for their valuable conversations and contributions. We wish to acknowledge Yingjie Cheng, Alison Coil, Alaina Henry, Ryan Sanders, Alice Shapley, and Allison Strom for helpful comments, feedback, and suggestions (and clarifications). We also thank the anonymous referee for a helpful report, which greatly improved the quality and clarity of this work. This work is based on data obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope through program No. GO-14227. Support for program No. GO-14227 was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation through grant AST 1614668. C.P. thanks Marsha L. and Ralph F. Schilling for generous support of this research. V.E.C. acknowledges support from the NASA Headquarters under the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) award 19-ASTRO19-0122, as well as support from the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University. I.J. acknowledges support from NASA under award No. 80GSFC21M0002. This work was supported in part by NASA contract NNG16PJ33C, the Studying Cosmic Dawn with WFIRST Science Investigation Team. The authors acknowledge the Texas A&M University Brazos HPC cluster and Texas A&M High Performance Research Computing Resources (HPRC, http://hprc.tamu.edu ) that contributed to the research reported here. This work benefited from generous support from the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University.

Funding Information:
We thank our colleagues on the CLEAR team for their valuable conversations and contributions. We wish to acknowledge Yingjie Cheng, Alison Coil, Alaina Henry, Ryan Sanders, Alice Shapley, and Allison Strom for helpful comments, feedback, and suggestions (and clarifications). We also thank the anonymous referee for a helpful report, which greatly improved the quality and clarity of this work. This work is based on data obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope through program No. GO-14227. Support for program No. GO-14227 was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation through grant AST 1614668. C.P. thanks Marsha L. and Ralph F. Schilling for generous support of this research. V.E.C. acknowledges support from the NASA Headquarters under the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) award 19-ASTRO19-0122, as well as support from the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University. I.J. acknowledges support from NASA under award No. 80GSFC21M0002. This work was supported in part by NASA contract NNG16PJ33C, the Studying Cosmic Dawn with WFIRST Science Investigation Team. The authors acknowledge the Texas A&M University Brazos HPC cluster and Texas A&M High Performance Research Computing Resources (HPRC, http://hprc.tamu.edu) that contributed to the research reported here. This work benefited from generous support from the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University.

Funding Information:
Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

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