Exploring the effects of high-velocity flows in abundance determinations in H II regions. Bidimensional spectroscopy of HH 204 in the Orion Nebula

TL;DR

This study uses integral field spectroscopy to analyze HH 204 in the Orion Nebula, revealing shock-heated zones, ionization structures, and abundance anomalies in a high-velocity flow within a photoionized region.

Contribution

First detailed integral field spectroscopic analysis of HH 204 revealing shock-heated zones and ionization structures in a photoionized environment.

Findings

Detection of a shock-heated zone with 1,000 K higher temperature.

Identification of a high-density, optically thick bow shock head.

Observation of abundance anomalies likely due to measurement effects.

Abstract

We present results from integral field optical spectroscopy with the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrograph of the Herbig-Haro (HH) object HH 204, with a spatial sampling of 1 x 1 arcsec^2. We have obtained maps of different emission lines, physical conditions and ionic abundances from collisionally excited lines. The ionization structure of the object indicates that the head of the bow shock is optically thick and has developed a trapped ionization front. The density at the head is at least five times larger than in the background ionized gas. We discover a narrow arc of high T_e([N II]) values delineating the southeast edge of the head. The temperature in this zone is about 1,000 K higher than in the rest of the field and should correspond to a shock-heated zone at the leading working surface of the gas flow. This is the first time this kind of feature is observed in a photoionized HH object. We find that the O^+ and O abundance maps show anomalous values at separate areas of the bow shock probably due to: a) overestimation of the collisional de-excitation effects of the [O II] lines in the compressed gas at the head of the bow shock, and b) the use of a too high T_e([N II]) at the area of the leading working surface of the flow.