Properties of the giant HII regions and bar in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC5430

TL;DR

This study investigates the properties of giant HII regions and the bar in galaxy NGC5430, revealing uniform chemical composition and star formation ages across the galaxy, and suggesting galaxy-wide star formation waves.

Contribution

First flux calibration of SpIOMM spectra for NGC5430, detailed analysis of HII regions and bar, and insights into star formation history and chemical mixing in the galaxy.

Findings

No significant abundance or age variation between bar and spiral arms.

Evidence of two galaxy-wide star formation episodes approximately 7.1 and 10.5 million years ago.

Chemical mixing likely flattens the oxygen abundance gradient.

Abstract

In order to better understand the impact of the bar on the evolution of spiral galaxies, we measure the properties of giant HII regions and the bar in the SB(s)b galaxy NGC5430. We use two complementary data sets, both obtained at the Observatoire du Mont-M\'egantic: a hyperspectral data cube from the imaging Fourier transform spectrograph SpIOMM, and high-resolution spectra across the bar from a long-slit spectrograph. We flux-calibrate SpIOMM spectra for the first time, and produce H{\alpha} and [NII]{\lambda}6584\r{A} intensity maps from which we identify 51 giant HII regions in the spiral arms and bar. We evaluate the type of activity, the oxygen abundance and the age of the young populations contained in these giant HII regions and in the bar. Thus, we confirm that NGC5430 does not harbour a strong AGN, and that its Wolf-Rayet knot shows a pure HII region nature. We find no variation in abundance or age between the bar and spiral arms, nor as a function of galactocentric radius. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a chemical mixing mechanism is at work in the galaxy's disc to flatten the oxygen abundance gradient. Using the starburst99 model, we estimate the ages of the young populations, and again find no variations in age between the bar and the arms or as a function of radius. Instead, we find evidence for two galaxy-wide waves of star formation, about 7.1 Myr and 10.5 Myr ago. While the bar in NGC5430 is an obvious candidate to trigger these two episodes, it is not clear how the bar could induce widespread star formation on such a short time-scale.