Reconstructing EUV spectrum of star forming regions from millimeter recombination lines of HI, HeI, and HeII

TL;DR

This study reconstructs the EUV spectra of star-forming regions using ground-based millimeter recombination lines, revealing spectral slopes that differ from existing models and offering new insights into ionizing photon production.

Contribution

It introduces a novel ground-based method to infer EUV spectra of star-forming regions from millimeter recombination lines, providing a way to calibrate starburst models.

Findings

EUV spectra between 13.6 and 54.4 eV follow a ~ν^{-4.5} dependence.

Observed spectral slopes differ from predictions of standard stellar evolution models.

The technique enhances understanding of ionizing flux during cosmic reionization.

Abstract

The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectra of distant star-forming regions cannot be probed directly using either ground- or space-based telescopes due to the high cross-section for interaction of EUV photons with the interstellar medium. This makes EUV spectra poorly constrained. The mm/submm recombination lines of H and He, which can be observed from the ground, can serve as a reliable probe of the EUV. Here we present a study based on ALMA observations of three Galactic ultra-compact HII regions and the starburst region Sgr B2(M), in which we reconstruct the key parameters of the EUV spectra using mm recombination lines of HI, HeI and HeII. We find that in all cases the EUV spectra between 13.6 and 54.4 eV have similar frequency dependence: L_{\nu}~ \nu^{-4.5 +/- 0.4}. We compare the inferred values of the EUV spectral slopes with the values expected for a purely single stellar evolution model (Starburst99) and the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis code (BPASS). We find that the observed spectral slope differs from the model predictions. This may imply that the fraction of interacting binaries in HII regions is substantially lower than assumed in BPASS. The technique demonstrated here allows one to deduce the EUV spectra of star forming regions providing critical insight into photon production rates at \lambda < 912 A and can serve as calibration to starburst synthesis models, improving our understanding of star formation in distant universe and the properties of ionizing flux during reionization.