SDSS IV MaNGA: Deep observations of extra-planar, diffuse ionized gas around late-type galaxies from stacked IFU spectra
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: We have conducted a study of extra-planar diffuse ionized gas using the first year data from the MaNGA IFU survey. We have stacked spectra from 49 edge-on, late-type galaxies as a function of distance from the midplane of the galaxy. With this technique we can detect the bright emission lines Hα, Hβ, [O ii]λλ3726, 3729, [O iii]λ5007, [N ii]λλ6549, 6584, and [S ii]λλ6717, 6731 out to about 4 kpc above the midplane. With 16 galaxies we can extend this analysis out to about 9 kpc, i.e. a distance of ~2Re, vertically from the midplane. In the halo, the surface brightnesses of the [O ii] and Hα emission lines are comparable, unlike in the disk where Hα dominates. When we split the sample by specific star-formation rate, concentration index, and stellar mass, each subsample’s emission line surface brightness profiles and ratios differ, indicating that extra-planar gas properties can vary. The emission line surface brightnesses of the gas around high specific star-formation rate galaxies are higher at all distances, and the line ratios are closer to ratios characteristic of H ii regions compared with low specific star-formation rate galaxies. The less concentrated and lower stellar mass samples exhibit line ratios that are more like H ii regions at larger distances than their more concentrated and higher stellar mass counterparts. The largest difference between different subsamples occurs when the galaxies are split by stellar mass. We additionally infer that gas far from the midplane in more massive galaxies has the highest temperatures and steepest radial temperature gradients based on their [N ii]/Hα and [O ii]/Hα ratios between the disk and the halo.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Institutions: Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Special Astrophysical Observatory, Space Telescope Science Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Pittsburgh, University of Utah, University of California, Santa Cruz, Johns Hopkins University, Bates College, McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas at Austin, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of Portsmouth, The Open University, University of Kentucky
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Department of Energy, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Yale University, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Ohio State University, University of Utah, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Notre Dame, University of Portsmouth, New Mexico State University, Carnegie Institution for Science, York University, University of Oxford, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Russian Science Foundation, Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Office of Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W2562374697