XMP gas-rich dwarfs in Nearby Voids: results of SALT spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses SALT spectroscopy to identify and analyze extremely metal-poor, gas-rich dwarf galaxies in nearby voids, revealing some with exceptionally low metallicities and unique properties compared to typical void galaxies.

Contribution

First spectroscopic analysis of XMP gas-rich dwarfs in voids, demonstrating their extremely low metallicities and distinct evolutionary features.

Findings

Identification of XMP dwarfs with 12+log(O/H) < 7.19

Most spectra required semi-empirical or strong line methods for O/H estimation

Void XMP dwarfs have very low stellar mass fractions and unique star formation histories

Abstract

In the framework of an ongoing project aimed at searching for and studying eXtremely Metal-Poor (XMP) very gas-rich blue dwarfs in nearby voids, we conducted spectroscopy with the 11-m Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) of 26 candidates, preselected in the first paper of this series (PEPK19). For 23 of them, we detected Oxygen lines, allowing us to estimate the gas O/H ratio. For ten of them, the oxygen abundance is found to be very low, in the range of 12+log(O/H)=6.95-7.30 dex. Of those, four void dwarfs have 12+log(O/H) < 7.19, or Z < Zo/30. For the majority of observed galaxies, the faint line [OIII]4363A used to estimate O/H with the direct T_e method appeared either too noisy or was not detected. We therefore use the semi-empirical method of Izotov, Thuan (2007) for these spectra, or, when applicable, the new 'Strong line' method of Izotov et al. (2019b). We present and discuss the results for all void dwarfs observed in this work. We also compare their O/H values with O/H values of ~140 void galaxies available from our recent papers. We address the properties of the newly found unusual void XMP dwarfs and compare them with those for ten known prototype void XMP objects. The latter small group is outstanding based on their very small mass fraction of stars (only 0.01--0.02 of the baryonic mass), the blue colours of stars in the outer body (indicating a non-cosmological age for the main star-forming episode), and the low gas metallicity (several times lower than expected for their luminosity).