The detection of [Ne v] emission in five blue compact dwarf galaxies

TL;DR

This study reports the discovery of [Ne v] emission in five blue compact dwarf galaxies, indicating the presence of hard ionising radiation likely caused by radiative shocks or AGN activity, challenging existing stellar models.

Contribution

It is the first to identify [Ne v] emission in five BCDs, expanding the sample to eight, and suggests shocks or AGN as sources of high-energy radiation beyond stellar processes.

Findings

[Ne v] emission detected in 8 BCDs.

Shock models with 300-500 km/s explain the emission.

Radiative shocks or AGN likely produce the high-energy radiation.

Abstract

We report the discovery of the high-ionisation [Ne v] 3426A emission line in the spectra of five blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies. Adding the three previously known BCDs with [Ne v] emission, the entire sample of such galaxies now contains eight objects. The detection of this line implies the presence of intense hard ionising radiation. Such radiation cannot be reproduced by models of high-mass X-ray binaries or massive stellar populations. Other mechanisms, such as AGN and/or fast radiative shocks, are needed. We consider that fast radiative shocks is the most likely mechanism. The observed [Ne v] 3426/He ii 4686 flux ratios in all eight galaxies can be reproduced by radiative shock models with shock velocities in the ~300-500 km/s range, and with the shock ionising contribution being ~10% of the stellar ionising contribution. However, we cannot rule out that this 10% part is produced by an AGN rather than by radiative shocks.