The importance of the diffuse ionized gas for interpreting galaxy spectra

Abstract

Diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in galaxies can be found in early-type galaxies, in bulges of late-type galaxies, in the interarm regions of galaxy disks, and outside the plane of such disks. The emission-line spectrum of the DIG can be confused with that of a weakly active galactic nucleus. It can also bias the inference of chemical abundances and star formation rates in star forming galaxies. We discuss how one can detect and feasibly correct for the DIG contribution in galaxy spectra.

arXiv comment8 pages, 6 figures, Invited review, Proceedings of IAUS 359, Storchi-Bergmann et al. eds. Accepted manuscript after minor corrections

References in corpus (40)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Host Galaxies of AGN
• The Origin of the Mass--Metallicity Relation: Insights from 53,000 Star-Forming Galaxies in the SDSS
• The physical properties of star forming galaxies in the low redshift universe
• Theoretical Modeling of Starburst Galaxies
• The Host Galaxies and Classification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe
• A fundamental relation between mass, SFR and metallicity in local and high redshift galaxies
• A comprehensive classification of galaxies in the SDSS: How to tell true from fake AGN?
• Understanding Galaxy Evolution through Emission Lines
• The warm ionized medium in spiral galaxies
• SDSS IV MaNGA - Spatially resolved diagnostic diagrams: A proof that many galaxies are LIERs
• Semi-empirical analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies III. How to distinguish AGN hosts
• Can retired galaxies mimic active galaxies? Clues from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The SAURON project XVI: On the Sources of Ionisation for the Gas in Elliptical and Lenticular Galaxies
• New Strong Line Abundance Diagnostics for \HII Regions: Effects of $\kappa$-Distributed Electron Energies and New Atomic Data
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: The Impact of Diffuse Ionized Gas on Emission-line Ratios, Interpretation of Diagnostic Diagrams, and Gas Metallicity Measurements
• The Spatially Resolved Star Formation Law from Integral Field Spectroscopy: VIRUS-P Observations of NGC 5194
• The Survey for Ionization in Neutral-Gas Galaxies: III. Diffuse, Warm Ionized Medium and Escape of Ionizing Radiation
• Diffuse ionized gas in galaxies across the Hubble sequence at the CALIFA resolution
• Diffuse Ionized Gas in Edge-on Spiral Galaxies: Extraplanar and Outer Disk H-alpha Emission
• Diffuse Ionized Gas in Three Sculptor Group Galaxies
• A Model for the Scattered Light Contribution and Polarization of the Diffuse H$\alpha$ Galactic Background
• Ionization Sources and Physical Conditions in the Diffuse Ionized Gas Halos of Four Edge-On Galaxies
• Characterizing spiral arm and interarm star formation
• The Effects of Diffuse Ionized Gas and Spatial Resolution on Metallicity Gradients: TYPHOON Two-Dimensional Spectrophotometry of M83
• Metallicity calibrations for diffuse ionised gas and low ionisation emission regions
• Diffuse ionized gas and its effects on nebular metallicity estimates of star-forming galaxies
• The VIRUS-P Exploration of Nearby Galaxies (VENGA): Spatially Resolved Gas-Phase Metallicity Distributions in Barred and Unbarred Spirals
• Dust and Ionized Gas in Nine Nearby Early-Type Galaxies Imaged with the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys
• Photoionization of Galactic Halo Gas by Old Supernova Remnants
• The MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD): Ionized gas kinematic maps and an application to Diffuse Ionized Gas
• Diffuse Gas in Retired Galaxies: Nebular Emission Templates and Constraints on the Sources of Ionization
• Photoionized mixing layer models of the diffuse ionized gas
• Radiative transfer calculations of the diffuse ionised gas in disc galaxies with cosmic ray feedback
• Oxygen Metallicity Determinations from Optical Emission Lines in Early-type Galaxies
• Ionized gas disks in elliptical and S0 galaxies at $z<1$
• On the Structure and Morphology of the `Diffuse Ionized Medium' in Star-Forming Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Investigating the Origin of Observed Central Dips in Radial Metallicity Profiles