Integral field spectroscopy of HII regions in M33

TL;DR

This study uses integral field spectroscopy to analyze the physical conditions, chemical abundances, and stellar features of HII regions in M33, revealing differences between central and outer regions and detecting Wolf-Rayet stars in one external region.

Contribution

First detailed integral field spectroscopic analysis of HII regions in M33 covering a broad spectral range and spatial resolution, highlighting regional differences and stellar features.

Findings

Outer HII region has higher electron temperature and excitation.

Central HII region shows higher extinction and metallicity.

Wolf-Rayet features detected in IC 132, not in central regions.

Abstract

Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) is presented for star forming regions in M33. A central area of 300 x 500 pc^2 and the external HII region IC 132, at a galactocentric distance {\sim} 19arcmin (4.69 kpc) were observed with the Potsdam Multi Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) instrument at the 3.5 m telescope of the Calar Alto Hispano- Alem\'an observatory (CAHA). The spectral coverage goes from 3600 A to 1{\mu}m to include from [OII]{\lambda}3727 A to the near infrared lines required for deriving sulphur electron temperature and abundance diagnostics. Local conditions within individual HII regions are presented in the form of emission line fluxes and physical conditions for each spatial resolution element (spaxel) and for segments with similar H{\alpha} surface brightness. A clear dichotomy is observed when comparing the central to outer disc HII regions. While the external HII region has higher electron temperature plus larger H{\beta} equivalent width, size and excitation, the central region has higher extinction and metal content. The dichotomy extends to the BPT diagnostic diagrams that show two orthogonal broad distributions of points. By comparing with pseudo-3D photoionization models we conclude that the bulk observed differences are probably related to a different ionization parameter and metallicity. Wolf-Rayet features are detected in IC 132, and resolved into two concentrations whose integrated spectra were used to estimate the characteristic number of WR stars. No WR features were detected in the central HII regions despite their higher metallicity.