A kinematic study of the giant star-forming region 30 Doradus

TL;DR

This study provides the first optical spectroscopic data cube of 30 Doradus, revealing complex gas kinematics, multiple emission line profiles, and large expanding structures linked to X-ray peaks, enhancing understanding of its physical mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces the first optical spectroscopic data cube of 30 Doradus, enabling detailed analysis of its gas kinematics and physical structures.

Findings

Hα emission shows simple to multiple profiles indicating diverse physical processes.

Identification of at least three large expanding structures in 30 Doradus.

Correlation between expanding structures and X-ray emission peaks.

Abstract

We present, for the first time, an optical spectroscopic data cube of the giant star-forming region 30 Doradus, obtained with the GIRAFFE on the VLT at Paranal Observatory. The main emission lines present in this data cube correspond to H{\alpha}, [NII] 6548 {\AA} and [NII] 6584 {\AA}. By using this data set, we found that H{\alpha} presents from simple to multiple profiles, which suggests that different physical mechanisms act in different ways on the excited gas in 30 Doradus. We found, at least, three unclassified large expanding structures. These structures correlate with peaks in the X-ray distribution. Given the excellent signal-to-noise ratio and the large spatial coverage of this data cube, we have studied in detail the kinematics of 30 Doradus, showing the importance of the small scale phenomena on the integrated properties of 30 Doradus.