Can stellar winds account for temperature fluctuations in H II regions? The case of NGC 2363

Abstract

We compare the rate of kinetic energy injected by stellar winds into the extragalactic H II region NGC 2363 to the luminosity needed to feed the observed temperature fluctuations. The kinetic luminosity associated to the winds is estimated by means of two different evolutionary synthesis codes, one of which takes into account the statistical fluctuations expected in the Initial Mass Function. We find that, even in the most favorable conditions considered by our model, such luminosity is much smaller than the luminosity needed to account for the observed temperature fluctuations. The assumptions underlying our study are emphasized as possible sources of uncertainty affecting our results.

7 pages, 1 figure; accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics. 1 erratum found and corrected on p. 4

References in corpus (5)

• Stellar evolution with rotation VII: Low metallicity models and the blue to red supergiant ratio in the SMC
• The shape of $\eta$ Carinae and LBV Nebulae
• Confidence limits of evolutionary synthesis models III. On time-integrated quantities
• The Structure and Star-Formation History of NGC 5461
• Collisional excitation of hydrogen and the determination of the primordial helium abundance from H II regions

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The effect of collisional enhancement of Balmer lines on the determination of the primordial helium abundance
• Heating of blue compact dwarf galaxies: gas distribution and photoionization by stars in I Zw 18
• Studies of NGC 6720 with Calibrated HST WFC3 Emission-Line Filter Images--II:Physical Conditions
• What is the temperature structure in the giant HII region NGC 588?