An Atlas of Star-Forming Galaxy Equivalent Widths

Abstract

We present an atlas of starburst galaxy emission lines spanning 10 orders of magnitude in ionizing flux and 7 orders of magnitude in hydrogen number density. Coupling SEDs from Starburst99 with photoionization calculations from Cloudy, we track 96 emission lines from 977 Å to 205 m which are common to nebular regions, have been observed in H II regions, and serve as useful diagnostic lines. Each simulation grid displays equivalent widths and contains ~1.5x10${}^4$ photoionization models calculated by supplying a spectral energy distribution, chemical abundances, dust content, and gas metallicity (ranging from 0.2 Z$\odot$ to 5.0 Z$\odot$). Our simulations will prove useful in starburst emission line data analysis, especially regarding local starburst galaxies that show high ionization emission lines. One sample application of our atlas predicts that C IV $\lambda$1549 will serve as a useful diagnostic emission line of vigorous star formation for coming James Webb Space Telescope observations predicting a peak equivalent width of approximately 316 Å.

33 pages; 8 figures; 1 table; accepted to Astrophys. Space Sci

References in corpus (8)

• Cosmic Star Formation History
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• The Effects of Stellar Rotation. II. A Comprehensive Set of Starburst99 Models
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• Metallicities and Physical Conditions in Star-forming Galaxies at z~1.0-1.5
• [Ne V] Emission in Optically Classified Starbursts
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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Optical and JWST Mid-IR Emission Line Diagnostics for Simultaneous IMBH and Stellar Excitation in z~0 Dwarf Galaxies