Heavy elements unveil the non primordial origin of the giant HI ring in Leo

TL;DR

This study uses optical spectroscopy to analyze the Leo ring, revealing it contains metal-rich gas likely stripped from galaxy disks, challenging the idea of a primordial origin and indicating a complex evolutionary history.

Contribution

First detection of ionized hydrogen and metallicity measurements in the Leo ring, demonstrating its non-primordial, pre-enriched origin from galaxy interactions.

Findings

Ionized hydrogen detected in the Leo ring.

Metallicities near or above solar levels.

Most heavy elements are not produced locally in the ring.

Abstract

The origin and fate of the most extended extragalactic neutral cloud known in the local Universe, the Leo ring, is still debated 38 years after its discovery. Its existence is alternatively attributed to leftover primordial gas with some low level of metal pollution versus enriched gas stripped during a galaxy-galaxy encounter. Taking advantage of MUSE (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer) operating at the VLT, we performed optical integral field spectroscopy of 3 HI clumps in the Leo ring where ultraviolet continuum emission has been found. We detected, for the first time, ionized hydrogen in the ring and identify 4 nebular regions powered by massive stars. These nebulae show several metal lines ([OIII],[NII],[SII]) which allowed reliable measures of metallicities, found to be close to or above the solar value. Given the faintness of the diffuse stellar counterparts, less than 3 percent of the observed heavy elements could have been produced locally in the main body of the ring and not much more than 15 percent in the HI clump towards M96. This inference, and the chemical homogeneity among the regions, convincingly demonstrates that the gas in the ring is not primordial, but has been pre-enriched in a galaxy disk, then later removed and shaped by tidal forces and it is forming a sparse population of stars.