Anne L. Kinney

Dust extinction of the stellar continua in starburst galaxies: The ultraviolet and optical extinction law

We analyze the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) UV and the optical spectra of 39 starburst and blue compact galaxies in order to study the average properties of dust extinction in extended regions of galaxies. The optical spectra have been obtained using an aperture which matches that of IUE, so comparable regions within each galaxy are sampled. The data from the 39 galaxies are compared with five models for the geometrical distribution of dust, adopting as extinction laws both the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud laws. The commonly used uniform dust screen is included among the models. We find that none of the five models is in satisfactory agreement with the data. In order to understand the discrepancy between the data and the models, we have derived an extinction law directly from the data in the UV and optical wavelength range. The resulting curve is characterized by an overall slope which is more gray than the Milky Way extinction laws slope, and by the absence of the 2175 A dust feature. Remarkably, the difference in optical depth between the Balmer emission lines H(sub alpha) and H(sub beta) is about a factor of 2 larger than the difference in the optical depth between the continuum underlying the two Balmer lines. We interpret this discrepancy as a consequence of the fact that the hot ionizing stars are associated with dustier regions than the cold stellar population is. The absence of the 2175 A dust feature can be due either to the effects of the scattering and clumpiness of the dust or to a chemical composition different from that of the Milky Way dust grains. Disentangling the two interpretations is not easy because of the complexity of the spatial distribution of the emitting regions. The extinction law of the UV and optical spectral continua of extended regions can be applied to the spectra of medium- and high-redshift galaxies, where extended regions of a galaxy are, by necessity, sampled.

Template Ultraviolet to Near-Infrared Spectra of Star-forming Galaxies and Their Application to K-Corrections

Template UV-optical spectra of quiescent and starburst galaxies are presented and used to derive Kcorrections as a function of morphological type and redshift. IUE observations and archival data are used for the UV template spectra. The optical spectra are from ground-based observations obtained in apertures that match closely the 200 arcsec 2 IUE aperture. The templates of quiescent galaxies are built according to morphological type, elliptical, bulge, SO, Sa, Sb, and So, and the templates of starburst galaxies according to color excess. The unprecedented characteristics of these templates is that UV and optical spectra have been obtained in matched apertures to produce consistent spectral information from 1200 to 10,000 A. Despite the relatively small IUE aperture, the galaxy stellar populations are well represented in the elliptical, SO, Sa, and Sc, and in the starburst templates. The spectra are available digitally. The UV-optical templates can be applied to the classification of high-redshift galaxies and to the identification of the host galaxies of quasars. The templates predict that observed magnitudes from traditional ground-based photometric surveys can be uniquely interpreted. For example, U, B, and I magnitudes uniquely determine both the redshift and the morphological type of a galaxy. The template spectra are also used to calculate K-corrections for galaxies as a function of morphological type and redshift, up to z = 2. These improved K-corrections are not sufficient to explain the excess counts in faint blue galaxies. A subset of our galaxy templates are linked with published data from the radio to the X-ray for galaxies and quasars. A comparison between the quiescent galaxies and the quasars suggests that, in the optical band, the host galaxy is a factor of 10-100 fainter in flux than the quasar. Subject headings: galaxies: distances and redshifts --galaxies: photometry -galaxies: starburst -galaxies: stellar content -quasars: general

Starbursts and Star Clusters in the Ultraviolet

Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet (UV) images of nine starburst galaxies reveal them to be highly irregular, even after excluding compact sources (clusters and resolved stars). Most (7/9) are found to have a similar intrinsic effective surface brightnesses, suggesting that a negative feedback mechanism is setting an upper limit to the star formation rate per unit area. All starbursts in our sample contain UV bright star clusters indicating that cluster formation is an important mode of star formation in starbursts. On average about 20% of the UV luminosity comes from these clusters. The brightest clusters, or super star clusters (SSC), are preferentially found at the very heart of starbursts. The size of the nearest SSCs are consistent with those of Galactic globular clusters. The luminosity function of SSCs is well represented by a power law with a slope alpha ~ -2. There is a strong correlation between the far infrared excess and the UV spectral slope. The correlation is well modeled by a geometry where much of their dust is in a foreground screen near to the starburst, but not by a geometry of well mixed stars and dust.

An atlas of ultraviolet spectra of star-forming galaxies

A systematic study is presented of the UV spectra of star-forming galaxies of different morphological type and activity class using a sample drawn from a uniformly reduced IUE data set. The spectra for a wide variety of galaxies, including normal spiral, LINER, starburst, blue compact, blue compact dwarf, and Seyfert 2 galaxies, are presented in the form of spectral energy distributions to demonstrate the overall characteristics according to morphology and activity class and in the form of absolute flux distributions to better show the absorption and emission features of individual objects. The data support the picture based on UV spectra of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory and of the Astronautical Netherlands Satellite that spiral galaxies of later Hubble class have more flux at the shortest UV wavelengths than do spiral galaxies of earlier Hubble class.

Multiwavelength tests of the dusty torus model for Seyfert galaxies

We present a compilation of emission properties for a sample of 116 Seyfert galaxies based on both previously unpublished data and measurements available in the literature. These measurements include fluxes in the emission lines (O III) lambda(5007) and H-beta, as well as the infrared (25-60 microns), ultraviolet (1450 A), soft (0.2-4 keV), and hard (2-10 keV) X-ray continua. These are used to try to distinguish between isotropic and anisotropic emission properties of Seyfert galaxies. The distribution functions of (O III) lambda 5007 infrared, and hard X-ray continuum are similar for Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s, consistent with these properties being isotropic. The ultraviolet and soft X-ray continua of Seyfert 2s are underluminous relative to the type 1s suggesting photons at these energies escape from the central source anisotropically. There is a correlation between the ultraviolet continuum and emission-line fluxes in Seyfert 1s consistent with the idea that the central engine is responsible for powering the line emission. No such correlation is found for the Seyfert 2s. Instead, the scatter in the plot of ultraviolet continuum versus line emission suggests the true nuclear continuum luminosity is not seen at Earth in these objects. These properties are consistent with those expected in the dusty torus model.

Ultraviolet to near-infrared spectral distributions of star-forming galaxies : metallicity and age effects

Spectral distributions from the UV to the near-IR of a sample of 44 star-forming galaxies are used to calculate the metallicity (O/H), star-formation rate (SFR) and age of the starbursts. The oxygen abundance covers the range 8.3 less than O/H less than 9.4 and nitrogen (N) is found to be mostly a product of secondary nucleosynthesis for O/H greater than 8.4. Due to its secondary origin, N/O ratios up to approximately equals 4 times the solar value can be obtained for metal-rich starbursts. The SFR ranges 0.01 to 100 solar mass/year. The lower metallicity galaxies seem to be experiencing an instantaneous burst of star formation, with ages ranging from under 5 x 10(exp 6) to 10(exp 7) yr. The highest metallicity galaxies are most probably experiencing a continuous burst. Correlations between the calculated quantities and several spectral features are investigated. We found a highly significant correlation between the equivalent width W(C IV lambda 1550)-a stellar (absorption) feature- and the oxygen abundance of the emitting gas (O/H). Thus we show for the first time that the stellar metallicity is well correlated with the gas metallicity in star-bursting galaxies. The equivalent width W(Si IV lambda 1400) and the emission line ratio (N II) lambda lambda 6548.84/H(sub alpha) also correlate well with O/H, and all three features can be used as metallicity indicators for star-forming galaxies. The continuum color between lambda 1400 and lambda 3500 (C(14 - 35)) is shown to correlate with O/H, although it is better correlated with E(B - V). It was not possible to disentangle the metallicity from the reddening effect in C(14- 35). We estimate that the reddening affecting the UV continuum is about half the one derived from the Balmer decrement of the emitting gas. The SFR correlates well with the galaxy luminosity and there is no dependence of the continuum color on the SFR. The higher metallicities are only found in the more luminous galaxies, while low metallicities are found over the whole luminosity interval (-16 less than M(sub B) less than -23, H(sub 0) = 50 km/sec/Mpc) covered by the sample.

Ultraviolet-Optical Observations of the Seyfert 2 Galaxies NGC 7130, NGC 5135, and IC 3639: Implications for the Starburst-Active Galactic Nucleus Connection

We present and discuss Hubble Space Telescope (HST) (WFPC2 and FOC) images and ultraviolet (GHRS) spectra plus ground-based optical spectra of three Seyfert 2 nuclei (NGC 7130, NGC 5135 and IC 3639). These galaxies, together with Mrk 477 (Heckman et al.), were selected on the basis of ultraviolet brightness from a bigger sample that comprises the 20 brightest Seyfert 2 nuclei, with the goal of studying the starburst-active galactic nucleus (AGN) connection and the origin of the so-called featureless continuum in Seyfert 2 nuclei. The data provide direct evidence of the existence of nuclear starbursts that dominate the ultraviolet light and that are responsible for the featureless continuum in these type 2 Seyfert nuclei. The GHRS spectra show absorption features formed in the photospheres (S V λ1501, C III λλ1426, 1428, Si III λ1417, and Si III + P III λ1341-1344) and in the stellar winds (C IV λ1550, Si IV λ1400, and N V λ1240) of massive stars. Signatures of massive stars are also clearly detected in their optical and near-UV spectra where the high-order Balmer series and He I lines are observed in absorption. These lines are formed in the photospheres of O and B stars, and thus they also provide strong independent evidence of the presence of massive stars in the nuclei of these Seyfert 2 nuclei. Interstellar absorption lines similar to those formed in the interstellar medium of starbursts are also observed. They are blueshifted by a few hundred km s-1 with respect to the systemic velocity, indicating that the interstellar gas is outflowing. These outflows are most likely driven by the nuclear starburst. These starbursts are dusty, compact, and powerful. They have sizes ranging from less than 100 pc to a few hundred parsecs (much smaller than that seen in the prototype Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068). Their UV colors imply that they are heavily reddened (by 2 to 3 mag in the UV), and the implied bolometric luminosities are of order 1010 L☉. The bolometric luminosities of these starbursts are similar to the estimated bolometric luminosities of their obscured Seyfert 1 nuclei. The data on this small sample suggest that more powerful AGNs may be related to more powerful central starbursts. Comparing the HST spectra to IUE spectra obtained through apertures with projected sizes of 3-11 kpc (and to IRAS far-IR data) we estimate that the nuclear starbursts account for 6%-25% of the total intrinsic UV luminosity of the entire galaxy.

HST imaging of the inner 3 arcseconds of NGC 1068 in the light of forbidden O III 5007 A

The Planetary Camera aboard HST has been used to obtain a high spatial resolution forbidden O III 5007 A image of the nucleus of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1068. This image shows more detail than any previously published images and resolves the NLR into several distinct clouds arranged in an apparently conical geometry. The individual emission-line regions appear to be resolved with sizes of 0.1-0.2 arcsec. There is a strong apparent correspondence between the 1.3 cm radio structure and several of the forbidden O III 5007 A clouds, although there are also bright emission-line clouds for which there are no radio counterparts. In particular, the radio triple of Ulvestad et al. (1987) appears to correspond directly to the forbidden O III 5007 A clouds A-D. It is concluded that the distribution of the clouds is consistent with ionization core models. The hidden nucleus is located somewhere in the southern radio component and may be coincident with the H2O megamaser. 33 refs.

A study of the Baldwin effect in the IUE data set

The paper investigates the controversial relation between the continuum luminosity and the C IV 1550 emission-line strength in the spectra of quasars, commonly referred to as the Baldwin effect, as a possible indicator of absolute luminosity. It is concluded that the Baldwin effect does represent a physical correlation between the continuum and the C IV 1550 equivalent width rather than a consequence of selection effects. In addition to the C IV results, a similar relation is found for the Lyman-alpha emission line. 38 refs.

The heating of dust in starburst galaxies: The contribution of the nonionizing radiation

The IUE UV and optical spectra and the far-infrared (FIR) IRAS flux densities of a sample of starburst and blue compact galaxies are used to investigate the relationship between dust obscuration and dust emission. The amount of dust obscuration at UV wavelengths correlates with the FIR-to-blue ratio; and an analysis of the correlation indicates that not only the ionizing but also the nonionizing radiation contribute to the FIR emission. The amount of UV and optical energy lost to dust obscuration accounts for most of the cool dust FIUR emission and for about 70% of the warm dust FIR emission. The remaining 30% of the warm dust FIR flux is probably due to dust emission from regions of star formation which are embedded in opaque giant molecular clouds and do not contribute to the integrated UV and optical spectrum. The use of the FIR emission as an indicator of high-mass star formation rate in star-forming galaxies can be problematic, since the contribution to the FIR flux from cool dust emission heated by relatively old stars is nonnegligible.