Characterisation of a HII region in the starburst galaxy

NGC1313
Jose Muñetón Dı́az
May 13, 2019

Abstract
Spectral analysis of a set of 19 emission lines from an HII region located in the galaxy
NGC1313 has been carried out. A value for the redshift of z = (1.38±0.09)×10−3 was found,
which then allowed to obtain a distance of D = 5.6 ± 0.2 Mpc. An electron temperature of
Te = 11 000±4 000 K and an electron density of ne = 60.6±0.7 cm−3 were calculated utilising
[SII] and [OIII] line ratios. A stellar population of N = 270±23 was found using the Zanstra
method, and a metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.14 ± 0.33 was calculated using strong line
ratios. All results except the stellar population, which had no means of comparison, show
good agreement with previous literature.

1 Introduction
The study of HII regions allows to obtain physical conditions of the gas such as electron tempera-
tures and electron densities, as well as abundances and ionising conditions. HII regions comprise
a big majority of the knowledge of disc and spiral galaxies[1]. An important assumption that is
always made in their study is that the properties derived and the results of the analysis are a rep-
resentation of the full region and do not vary internally over its size. HII regions in the galaxy
NGC1313 have been studied before[2, 3], determining abundances and effective temperatures
which are close to what was found in the present study[4].
The objective of this investigation was to identify and analyse the emission features of an
HII region in the starbust galaxy NGC1313, to then determine its distance, stellar population
and other different physical parameters, namely electron temperature Te , electron density ne and
metallicity.

2 Analysis methods
All analysis depend firstly on the redshift calibration of the spectrum. The redshift can then be
used as a direct measurement of the distance to the source from Hubble’s law.
The structure of the energy levels of the ion OIII results in emission features from the S and
D energy levels, where the excitation energy for the S level is much larger than those of the
D level: more energetic particles are needed to excite electrons into higher energy levels. As
the temperature of nebulae increases the energy of particles will increase as well, which then
means that the lines from the S level will appear stronger than at lower temperatures, whereas
the strength of the lines from the D levels will remain the same or not change significantly,
as not very high energies are required for these to be seen in higher proportions. The relative
populations of these two levels are therefore highly dependent on temperature and are not very

1
sensitive to the electron density ne , which results in an effective and simple way of determining
Te . This is summarised in the following equation:
3.29×104
j4959 + j5007 7.9e Te
= 1/2
, (1)
j4363 1 + 4.5 × 10−4 ne /Te
where jλ is the integrated flux of the corresponding line. This expression is accurate up to
ne ≈ 105 cm−3 . After this limit collisional de-excitation becomes important, as the radiative
lifetime of the D transition is longer than that of the S transition, for which the D term is more
easily de-excited by collisions. This results in a sharp decrease on the strength of λ4959 and
λ5007. Furthermore, collisional excitation to the S level from the D level makes λ4363 stronger.
The case for determining the electron density ne relies on an opposite concept to what is done
for the temperatures. Lines with similar excitation energies but different radiative transition
probabilities are desired. Furthermore, collisional de-excitation is not avoided as for Te . The fact
that the two lines have different excitation energies discards any dependency their ratio would
have on temperature. At a certain density the collisional de-excitation times will be longer than
the radiative de-excitation times of a certain transition, thus allowing lines from this transition to
be observed. This behaviour only happens below the lower density limit. As density increases, the
collisional time decreases which also then diminishes the strength of the line. Therefore knowledge
of the ratio between two lines with different radiative lifetimes permits a direct measurement of
the density of the cloud. For a ratio R between the two [SII] lines λ6716/λ6731 at a temperature
Te = 10 000 K, a recent calibration[5] resulted in the following expression for the electron density
ne :

log(ne ) = 0.0543 tan(−3.0553R + 2.8506) + 6.98 − 10.6905R + 9.9186R2 − 3.5442R3 . (2)

Figure (1) is an illustration of equation (2). For these two [SII] lines the lower density
limit is ne ≈ 3 × 103 cm−3 , at which the ratio is slightly larger than 1.4. The upper density
limit, where collisional excitation and de-excitation processes dominate over radiative ones, is
ne ≈ 1.6 × 104 cm−3 . At this density the ratio sits around 0.34. Beyond the limit densities the
line ratio will not change, being the region in between these densities the only region where it
does vary. This analysis also applies for the ratio between [OII] lines λ3729/λ3726.
Another important parameter that can be deduced from flux measurements of emission lines
is the Lyman ionising flux Q0 . Q0 represents all the photons produced capable of ionising HI. As
a general rule nebulae behave as optically thick to the Lyman continuum emission, which means
that all HI ionising photons are absorbed. From this, equalling the number of ionisations to the
L αβ (H 0 )
number of recombinations results in Q0 = hvHβ Hβ αef f
. All of the coefficients can be determined
Hβ
based on typical temperature and density values, which for equations (3) are assumed to be
Te = 10 000 K and ne = 10−2 cm−3 . The Lyman ionising flux then reduces to:

Q0 = 2.1 × 1019 LHβ /(1 − fesc )

(3)
Q0 = 7.4 × 1018 LHα /(1 − fesc ),
where fesc is the escape fraction. fesc can be estimated to be zero if the nebula is ionisation-
bounded and non-zero if it is density-bounded. For our case it is assumed the region is ionisation
bounded which therefore implies fesc = 0. Knowing Q0 of the nebula finally allows to determine
the number of O7V stars it contains from the relationship NO7V = Q0 /QO7V 0 , where QO7V
0 =
48.8
10 is the Lyman ionisation flux of one O7V star. This technique, called the Zanstra method,
allows to determine the ionising stellar population from luminosity measurements.

2
 1.4

1.2

1.0
R

0.8 R= 6716
6731

0.6

0.4
101 102 103 104
Electron density ne [cm 3]

Figure 1: Electron density as a function of the ratio between the two [SII] lines λ6716 and λ6731 at an electron
temperature Te = 10 000 K. Work from Proxauf et al.[5].

The fraction of gas stars possess that has been transformed into heavier elements than hy-
drogen and helium is quantitavely defined as metallicity. Metallicity is a key parameter for the
understanding of star formation and the evolution of galaxies. Different strong line ratios are
used as metallicity indicators, such as R23, N2 and O3N2, shown in equations (4). The R23
was first proposed in 1979 by Pagel et al[3], which over time has been calibrated in several
occasions[7]. Two of these, from Pilyugin & Thuan (2005) and Kewly & Dopita (2002) were
employed. For the N2 and O3N2 ratios the indicators from Pettini & Pagel were employed[10].
These three strong line ratios were calculated and utilised in the present analysis to determine
approximate metallicities, given in terms of 12 + log(O/H), of the HII region under study.
j3727 + j4959 + j5007
R23 =
Hβ
j6583
N2 = (4)
Hα
j5007 /Hβ
O3N2 =
j6583 /Hα

3 Results and Discussion

Firstly, a redshift of z = (1.38 ± 0.09) × 10−3 was obtained from a set of seven lines across the
spectrum. From this redshift a distance from the source of D = 5.6 ± 0.2 Mpc was calculated.
This is in the right order of magnitude compared to values found using different techniques such
as Cepheid variables D = 4.61 ± 0.13 Mpc[11], tips of red giant branch D = 4.11 ± 0.11 Mpc[12],
and HII region size redistribution D = 3.0 Mpc[13], having percentage differences in the range
20-85%. With the redshift correction a total of 19 lines were fitted to Gaussian functions, as seen
in figure (2), which then permitted the determination of the FWHM, peak intensity, centroid

3
wavelength and most importantly the integrated flux of each of them. These measurements are
shown in table 1.

1.4 1e 16
Fit
1.2 Raw Data

1.0
Intensity [W/cm2/Å]

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
4850 4875 4900 4925 4950 4975 5000 5025
Wavelength [Å]
Figure 2: Gaussian fitting of the line Hβ and the two [OIII] lines λ4959 and λ5007. The fit analysis allows to determine
the centroid wavelength, the FWHM, the peak intensity and the integrated flux of each line.

Using equation (1) an electron temperature of Te = 11 000 ± 4 000 K was calculated. Typ-
ical values for Te in HII regions are in the range 7 000 − 14 000 K[6]. Furthermore, another
study of different HII regions in the galaxy NGC1313 found values ranging between 9 000 K and
12 250 K[4], from which can be interpreted the value found here displays good accuracy. The ne
found is well below the collisional excitation limit ne ≈ 105 cm−3 , which is a limiting condition
for equation (1) to be valid.
An electron density of ne = 60.6 ± 0.7 cm−3 was obtained from a line ratio of approximately
1.3 using equation(2). The electron temperature was assumed to be Te = 10 000 K for this
calculation. This value falls in the range between the critical limits, where the collisional de-
excitation rates are in the same order of magnitude of the radiative de-excitation rates. This is
general for HII regions[6].
The stellar population obtained using the Zanstra method, described above, was N = 277±17
using the Hα line and N = 263±15 using the Hβ line. An average of both results is N = 270±23.
Special attention is to be put on these values as the temperature and density used to obtain
equations (3) were different to the ones found from the analysis, however they can be interpreted
to be safely close. Another important assumption made in the calculation of the population
of O7V stars was that the HII region studied was ionisation-bounded, which then permitted to
approximate the escape fraction to zero fesc = 0. This is justified as typical HII regions have
sharp edges in terms of ionisation state which means they can be assumed to be surrounded by
unionised material.
Finally, the metallicity values found were to some extent consistent around a certain range.
The strong line ratio R23 resulted in log(R23) = 0.95, which according to the calibration by

4
Kewley & Dopita[9], makes the value for 12 + log(O/H) fall between 8.37 and 8.47. The lines of
the model from Pilyugin & Thuan[8] do not extend up to log(R23) = 0.95, however if lengthened
with the eye following a similar fashion, 12 + log(O/H) would be in the range 7.84−8.16, which is
slightly lower. Whether one or the other is correct depends on the HII region being metal-poor or
metal-rich. The ratio N2 gave a result of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.1 ± 0.1, and the O3N2 ratio resulted
in a metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.05 ± 0.25, according to Pettini & Pagel[10]. The calculated
average metallicity was 12 + log(O/H) = 8.14 ± 0.33. Previous measurements of the abundance
of HII regions in the galaxy NGC1313 have given a similar result of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.4 ± 0.1
[4].

Line Centroid FWHM Peak Intensity Integrated Flux

(Å) (Å) (W/m2 /Å × 10−18 ) (W/m2 × 10−17 )
[OII] 3726.5 ± 0.1 10.1 ± 0.3 29.0 ± 0.7 10.5 ± 0.9
[NeIII] 3868.6 ± 0.1 8.9 ± 0.4 11.0 ± 0.3 10.5 ± 0.9
H8 3888.8 ± 0.3 9.2 ± 0.8 4.5 ± 0.3 4.4 ± 0.5
[NeIII] 3968.73 ± 0.04 10.1 ± 0.1 6.40 ± 0.05 6.9 ± 0.1
Hδ 4102.1 ± 0.1 9.0 ± 0.3 6.1 ± 0.2 5.8 ± 0.3
Hγ 4340.9 ± 0.5 9.5 ± 0.7 10.0 ± 0.5 10.5 ± 0.9
HeI 4471.4 ± 0.1 9.1 ± 0.3 0.93 ± 0.03 0.90 ± 0.04
[OIII] 4363.3 ± 0.9 10 ± 3 1.1 ± 0.2 1.1 ± 0.4
Hβ 4860.971 ± 0.004 8.50 ± 0.01 23.00 ± 0.03 21.00 ± 0.04
[OIII] 4958.6 ± 0.1 9.3 ± 0.3 41 ± 1 40 ± 2
[OIII] 5006.335 ± 0.004 8.50 ± 0.02 130.0 ± 0.2 118.0 ± 0.3
HeI 5874.70 ± 0.07 9.2 ± 0.2 2.60 ± 0.04 2.52 ± 0.06
[NII] 6546 ± 6 9±4 0.7 ± 0.4 0.8 ± 0.5
Hα 6562.12 ± 0.01 9.9 ± 0.2 60.0 ± 0.9 63 ± 1
[NII] 6583 ± 2 9±4 2.3 ± 0.9 2±1
[SII] 6715.1 ± 0.2 9.0 ± 0.4 2.6 ± 0.1 2.5 ± 0.2
[SII] 6729.9 ± 0.3 9.0 ± 0.4 1.9 ± 0.1 1.8 ± 0.1
[ArIII] 7134.9 ± 0.1 8.5 ± 0.3 2.30 ± 0.05 2.09 ± 0.08
[ArIII] 7749.4 ± 0.4 10 ± 1 0.40 ± 0.04 0.41 ± 0.06

Table 1: Measurements from the Gaussian fits performed on the emission lines of the spectrum. Errors are standard
errors from the fit analysis.

4 Conclusion
An educational investigation has been carried out utilising the spectra observed from an HII
region located in the the galaxy NGC1313. Measurement and further analysis of the emission
features allowed to determine different physical characteristics of the gas. The values found for
electron temperature Te and electron density ne have good agreement with typical values for
HII regions. A distance to the galaxy was calculated from redshift measurements, also showing
acceptable accuracy as compared with other results that employed different methods. Values
for the stellar population of the region were calculated applying the Zanstra method. Finally,
calculation of strong line ratios resulted in approximate values for the metallicity of the nebula,
displaying some preciseness over a specific range.

5
5 Acknowledgements
Thanks to Katherine for the support with questions.

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