The Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical Abundances
We measure the gas-phase abundances of the elements He, N, O, Ne, S, Ar, and Fe in an individual H ii region known to be leaking Lyman-continuum photons in the Sunburst Arc, a highly magnified galaxy at redshift z = 2.37. We detect the temperature-sensitive auroral lines [S ii ] λλ 4070, 4076, [O ii...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada76c |
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| author | Brian Welch T. Emil Rivera-Thorsen Jane R. Rigby Taylor A. Hutchison Grace M. Olivier Danielle A. Berg Keren Sharon Håkon Dahle M. Riley Owens Matthew B. Bayliss Gourav Khullar John Chisholm Matthew Hayes Keunho J. Kim |
| author_facet | Brian Welch T. Emil Rivera-Thorsen Jane R. Rigby Taylor A. Hutchison Grace M. Olivier Danielle A. Berg Keren Sharon Håkon Dahle M. Riley Owens Matthew B. Bayliss Gourav Khullar John Chisholm Matthew Hayes Keunho J. Kim |
| author_sort | Brian Welch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We measure the gas-phase abundances of the elements He, N, O, Ne, S, Ar, and Fe in an individual H ii region known to be leaking Lyman-continuum photons in the Sunburst Arc, a highly magnified galaxy at redshift z = 2.37. We detect the temperature-sensitive auroral lines [S ii ] λλ 4070, 4076, [O iii ] λ 4363, [S iii ] λ 6314, [O ii ] λλ 7320, 7330, and [Ne iii ] λ 3343 in a stacked spectrum of five multiple images of the Lyman-continuum emitter (LCE), from which we directly measure the electron temperature in the low-, intermediate-, and high-ionization zones. We also detect the density-sensitive doublets of [O ii ] λλ 3727, 3730, [S ii ] λλ 6718, 6733, and [Ar iv ] λλ 4713, 4741, which constrain the density in both the low- and high-ionization gas. With these temperature and density measurements, we measure gas-phase abundances with similar rigor as studies of local galaxies and H ii regions. We measure a gas-phase metallicity for the LCE of $12+\mathrm{log}({\rm{O}}/{\rm{H}})=7.97\pm 0.05$ , and find an enhanced nitrogen abundance $\mathrm{log}({\rm{N}}/{\rm{O}})=-0.6{5}_{-0.25}^{+0.16}$ . This nitrogen abundance is consistent with enrichment from a population of Wolf–Rayet stars, additional signatures of which are reported in a companion paper. Abundances of sulfur, argon, neon, and iron are consistent with local low-metallicity H ii regions and low-redshift galaxies. This study represents the most complete chemical abundance analysis of an individual H ii region at Cosmic Noon to date, which enables direct comparisons between local H ii regions and those in the distant Universe. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-983b2a931fce42eba6b32f9fdb6fe2b2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-983b2a931fce42eba6b32f9fdb6fe2b22025-02-03T07:29:43ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198013310.3847/1538-4357/ada76cThe Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical AbundancesBrian Welch0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1815-0114T. Emil Rivera-Thorsen1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9204-3256Jane R. Rigby2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7627-6551Taylor A. Hutchison3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6251-4988Grace M. Olivier4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4606-4240Danielle A. Berg5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4153-053XKeren Sharon6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7559-0864Håkon Dahle7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2200-5606M. Riley Owens8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2862-307XMatthew B. Bayliss9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1074-4807Gourav Khullar10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3475-7648John Chisholm11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0302-2577Matthew Hayes12https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8587-218XKeunho J. Kim13https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6505-0293Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USA ; brian.d.welch@nasa.gov; Astrophysics Science Division, Code 660, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USAThe Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University , AlbaNova, 10691 Stockholm, SwedenAstrophysics Science Division, Code 660, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USAAstrophysics Science Division, Code 660, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy and George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , 4242 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USADepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 S. University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USAInstitute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo , P.O. Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Physics, University of Cincinnati , Cincinnati, OH 45221, USADepartment of Physics, University of Cincinnati , Cincinnati, OH 45221, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USADepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USAThe Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University , AlbaNova, 10691 Stockholm, SwedenIPAC, California Institute of Technology , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USAWe measure the gas-phase abundances of the elements He, N, O, Ne, S, Ar, and Fe in an individual H ii region known to be leaking Lyman-continuum photons in the Sunburst Arc, a highly magnified galaxy at redshift z = 2.37. We detect the temperature-sensitive auroral lines [S ii ] λλ 4070, 4076, [O iii ] λ 4363, [S iii ] λ 6314, [O ii ] λλ 7320, 7330, and [Ne iii ] λ 3343 in a stacked spectrum of five multiple images of the Lyman-continuum emitter (LCE), from which we directly measure the electron temperature in the low-, intermediate-, and high-ionization zones. We also detect the density-sensitive doublets of [O ii ] λλ 3727, 3730, [S ii ] λλ 6718, 6733, and [Ar iv ] λλ 4713, 4741, which constrain the density in both the low- and high-ionization gas. With these temperature and density measurements, we measure gas-phase abundances with similar rigor as studies of local galaxies and H ii regions. We measure a gas-phase metallicity for the LCE of $12+\mathrm{log}({\rm{O}}/{\rm{H}})=7.97\pm 0.05$ , and find an enhanced nitrogen abundance $\mathrm{log}({\rm{N}}/{\rm{O}})=-0.6{5}_{-0.25}^{+0.16}$ . This nitrogen abundance is consistent with enrichment from a population of Wolf–Rayet stars, additional signatures of which are reported in a companion paper. Abundances of sulfur, argon, neon, and iron are consistent with local low-metallicity H ii regions and low-redshift galaxies. This study represents the most complete chemical abundance analysis of an individual H ii region at Cosmic Noon to date, which enables direct comparisons between local H ii regions and those in the distant Universe.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada76cStrong gravitational lensingChemical abundancesAbundance ratios |
| spellingShingle | Brian Welch T. Emil Rivera-Thorsen Jane R. Rigby Taylor A. Hutchison Grace M. Olivier Danielle A. Berg Keren Sharon Håkon Dahle M. Riley Owens Matthew B. Bayliss Gourav Khullar John Chisholm Matthew Hayes Keunho J. Kim The Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical Abundances The Astrophysical Journal Strong gravitational lensing Chemical abundances Abundance ratios |
| title | The Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical Abundances |
| title_full | The Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical Abundances |
| title_fullStr | The Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical Abundances |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical Abundances |
| title_short | The Sunburst Arc with JWST. III. An Abundance of Direct Chemical Abundances |
| title_sort | sunburst arc with jwst iii an abundance of direct chemical abundances |
| topic | Strong gravitational lensing Chemical abundances Abundance ratios |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada76c |
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