# The MUSE view of He 2-10: no AGN ionization but a sparkling starburst

## TL;DR

This study uses MUSE spectroscopy to analyze the ionized gas in He 2-10, revealing starburst-driven outflows, high metallicity in core regions, and no evidence of active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, contrary to previous claims.

## Contribution

The paper provides a detailed integral field spectroscopic analysis of He 2-10, demonstrating the absence of AGN ionization and characterizing the galaxy's outflows and metallicity distribution with new data.

## Key findings

- Massive gas outflows with a rate of ~0.30 Msun/yr.
- High metallicity in core star-forming knots, low in outer regions.
- No evidence of AGN activity; X-ray emission likely from supernova remnants.

## Abstract

We study the physical and dynamical properties of the ionized gas in the prototypical HII galaxy Henize 2-10 using MUSE integral field spectroscopy. The large scale dynamics is dominated by extended outflowing bubbles, probably the results of massive gas ejection from the central star forming regions. We derive a mass outflow rate dMout/dt~0.30 Msun/yr, corresponding to mass loading factor eta~0.4, in range with similar measurements in local LIRGs. Such a massive outflow has a total kinetic energy that is sustainable by the stellar winds and Supernova Remnants expected in the galaxy. We use classical emission line diagnostic to study the dust extinction, electron density and ionization conditions all across the galaxy, confirming the extreme nature of the highly star forming knots in the core of the galaxy, which show high density and high ionization parameter. We measure the gas phase metallicity in the galaxy taking into account the strong variation of the ionization parameter, finding that the external parts of the galaxy have abundances as low as 12 + log(O/H)~8.3, while the central star forming knots are highly enriched with super solar metallicity. We find no sign of AGN ionization in the galaxy, despite the recent claim of the presence of a super massive active Black Hole in the core of He~2-10. We therefore reanalyze the X-ray data that were used to propose the presence of the AGN, but we conclude that the observed X-ray emission can be better explained with sources of a different nature, such as a Supernova Remnant.