Investigating Nearby Star-Forming Galaxies in the Ultraviolet with HST/COS Spectroscopy. I: Spectral Analysis and Interstellar Abundance Determinations

Abstract

This is the first in a series of three papers describing a project with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope to measure abundances of the neutral interstellar medium (ISM) in a sample of 9 nearby star-forming galaxies. The goal is to assess the (in)homogeneities of the multiphase ISM in galaxies where the bulk of metals can be hidden in the neutral phase, yet the metallicity is inferred from the ionized gas in the HII regions. The sample, spanning a wide range in physical properties, is to date the best suited to investigate the metallicity behavior of the neutral gas at redshift z=0. ISM absorption lines were detected against the far-ultraviolet spectra of the brightest star-forming region(s) within each galaxy. Here we report on the observations, data reduction, and analysis of these spectra. Column densities were measured by a multi-component line-profile fitting technique, and neutral-gas abundances were obtained for a wide range of elements. Several caveats were considered including line saturation, ionization corrections, and dust depletion. Ionization effects were quantified with `ad-hoc' CLOUDY models reproducing the complex photoionization structure of the ionized and neutral gas surrounding the UV-bright sources. An `average spectrum of a redshift z=0 star-forming galaxy' was obtained from the average column densities of unsaturated profiles of neutral-gas species. This template can be used as a powerful tool for studies of the neutral ISM at both low and high redshift.

arXiv comment66 pages, 35 figures, accepted for publication in ApJS

References in corpus (45)

• The chemical composition of the Sun
• Overview of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Mission
• The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury
• The HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale. XXVIII. Combining the Constraints on the Hubble Constant
• Heavy element abundances in blue compact galaxies
• New Observations of the Interstellar Medium in the Lyman Break Galaxy MS 1512-cB58
• Abundances at High Redshifts: the Chemical Enrichment History of Damped Lyman-alpha Galaxies
• Atomic Data for Permitted Resonance Lines of Atoms and Ions from H to Si, and S, Ar, Ca and Fe
• The Extended 12 Micron Galaxy Sample
• The Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Properties of Local Starbursts: Implications at High-Redshift
• FIGGS: Faint Irregular Galaxies GMRT Survey - Overview, observations and first results
• The Effect of Metallicity on Cepheid-Based Distances
• The host of GRB 030323 at z=3.372: a very high column density DLA system with a low metallicity
• The UCSD HIRES/KeckI Damped Lya Abundance Database: II. The Implications
• Modeling the Warm Ionized Interstellar Medium and Its Impact on Elemental Abundance Studies
• The most metal-poor damped Lyman-alpha systems: Insights into chemical evolution in the very metal-poor regime
• The VLT-UVES survey for molecular hydrogen in high-redshift damped Lyman-alpha systems: Physical conditions in the neutral gas
• The localized chemical pollution in NGC 5253 revisited: Results from deep echelle spectrophotometry
• FUSE Observations of Outflowing OVI in the Dwarf Starburst Galaxy NGC1705
• I Zw 18 revisited with HST/ACS and Cepheids: New Distance and Age
• The matallicities of star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts 0.47 < z < 0.92
• Dust in an extremely metal-poor galaxy: mid-infrared observations of SBS 0335-052
• An Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Atlas of Local Starbursts and Star-Forming Galaxies: The Legacy of FOS and GHRS
• CII* Absorption in Damped Lyman Alpha Systems: (II) A New Window on the Star Formation History of the Universe
• Dust Depletion and Extinction in a Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow
• VLA HI Line Observations of the Extremely Metal-Poor Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy SBS 0335-052
• An Aromatic Inventory of the Local Volume
• Physical conditions in QSO absorbers from fine-structure absorption lines
• Abundances in the Neutral Interstellar Medium of I Zw 18 from FUSE Observations
• The young age of the extremely metal-deficient blue compact dwarf galaxy SBS 1415+437
• Ionized Gas in Damped Lyman-alpha Systems and Its Effects on Elemental Abundance Studies
• An Atlas of Galactic Spectra Observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
• Chemical enrichment and physical conditions in I Zw 18
• Starbursts in the Local Universe: new HST/ACS observations of the irregular galaxy NGC 4449
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Low Metallicity Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy SBS 0335-052
• Empirical Verification of the Fe II Oscillator Strengths in the FUSE Bandpass
• A New View of the Super Star Clusters in the Low-Metallicity Galaxy SBS 0335-052
• Abundances in the H I envelope of the extremely low-metallicity Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy SBS 0335-052 from Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer observations
• FUSE observations of the HI interstellar gas of IZw18
• A Comparison of Absorption and Emission Line Abundances in the Nearby Damped Lyman-alpha Galaxy SBS 1543+593
• Do young galaxies exist in the Local Universe? - Red Giant Branch detection in the metal-poor dwarf SBS 1415+437
• A near-solar metallicity damped Lyman-alpha system toward the BAL quasar Tol 1037-2703
• Probing The Multiphase Interstellar Medium Of The Dwarf Starburst Galaxy NGC 625 With FUSE Spectroscopy
• Cold Neutral Gas in a z=4.2 Damped Lyman-alpha System: The Fuel for Star Formation
• Metal enrichment of the neutral gas of blue compact dwarf galaxies: the compelling case of Pox 36

Cited by in corpus (42)

• De Re Metallica: The cosmic chemical evolution of galaxies
• The Interstellar dust properties of nearby galaxies
• Ly$\alpha$ profile, dust, and prediction of Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction in Green Pea Galaxies
• The Mass and Momentum Outflow Rates of Photoionized Galactic Outflows
• Scaling Relations Between Warm Galactic Outflows and Their Host Galaxies
• Constraining the metallicities, ages, star formation histories, and ionizing continua of extragalactic massive star populations
• Metal-enriched galactic outflows shape the mass-metallicity relationship
• The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample: V. The impact of neutral ISM kinematics and geometry on Lyman Alpha escape
• Photoionization Models for the Semi-Forbidden C III] 1909 Emission in Star-Forming Galaxies
• Green Pea Galaxies Reveal Secrets of Ly$\alpha$ Escape
• Lyman alpha Emitting Galaxies in the Nearby Universe
• Shining A Light On Galactic Outflows: Photo-Ionized Outflows
• Do galaxies that leak ionizing photons have extreme outflows?
• Modelling ultraviolet-line diagnostics of stars, the ionized and the neutral interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies
• Elemental depletions in the Magellanic Clouds and the evolution of depletions with metallicity
• Mrk 71/NGC 2366: The nearest Green Pea analog
• The Complete Ultraviolet Spectrum of the Archetypal "Wind-Dominated" Quasar Mrk~231: Absorption and Emission from a High-Speed Dusty Nuclear Outflow
• The Lyman Continuum Escape and ISM properties in Tololo 1247-232 - New Insights from HST and VLA
• O/H-N/O: the curious case of NGC 4670
• Neutral ISM, Lyman-Alpha and Lyman-continuum in the nearby starburst Haro 11
• Inferring the HII region escape fraction of ionizing photons from infrared emission lines in metal-poor star-forming dwarf galaxies
• Stars and gas in the most metal-poor galaxies I: COS and MUSE observations of SBS 0335-052E
• A GMOS-N IFU study of the central H II region in the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC 4449: Kinematics, Nebular Metallicity and Star-Formation
• A comparison of UV and optical metallicities in star-forming galaxies
• MUSE Illuminates Channels for Lyman Continuum Escape in the Halo of SBS 0335-52E
• Testing strong line metallicity diagnostics at z~2
• The Lyman alpha Reference Sample VI: Lyman alpha escape from the edge-on disk galaxy Mrk1486
• Carbon Abundances in Starburst Galaxies of the Local Universe
• First Co-spatial Comparison of Stellar, Neutral-, and Ionized-gas Metallicities in a metal-rich galaxy: M83
• Ly-alpha emission in low-redshift most metal-deficient compact star-forming galaxies
• Metal-Enriched Neutral Gas Reservoir around a Strongly-lensed, Low-mass Galaxy at $z=4$ Identified by JWST/NIRISS and VLT/MUSE
• Sub-kiloparsec Imaging of Lyman-alpha Emission in a Low Mass, Highly Ionized, Gravitationally Lensed Galaxy at z = 1.84
• Newly Improved Ionization Corrections for the Neutral Interstellar Medium: Enabling Accurate Abundance Determinations in Star-forming Galaxies throughout the Universe
• Dissecting the Mid-Infrared Heart of M83 with JWST
• A $\sim$15 kpc outflow cone piercing through the halo of the blue compact metal-poor galaxy SBS0335-052
• Uncovering the physical origin of the prominent Lyman-$\alpha$ emission and absorption in GS9422 at $z=5.943$
• Interpreting the Si II and C II line spectra from the COS Legacy Spectroscopic SurveY using a virtual galaxy from a high-resolution radiation-hydrodynamic simulation
• Elemental Abundances of the Hot Atmosphere of Luminous Infrared Galaxy Arp 299
• The Baltimore Oriole's Nest: Cool Winds from the Inner and Outer Parts of a Star-Forming Galaxy at z=1.3
• Accelerating Galaxy Winds During the Big Bang of Starbursts
• An extremely metal-poor Lyman $\alpha$ emitter candidate at $z=6$ revealed through absorption spectroscopy
• Absorption line abundances in the SMC-like galaxy UGC 5282: evidence for ISM dilution from inflows on kiloparsec scales