The origin of the [CII]-deficit in a simulated dwarf galaxies starburst

TL;DR

This study uses simulated dwarf galaxy mergers to explore the origins of the [CII]-deficit, revealing the dominant emission sources, the impact of star formation activity, and the relation between [CII] emission and star formation rate.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the physical mechanisms behind the [CII]-deficit and the [CII]-SFR relation using detailed SPH simulations of dwarf galaxy mergers.

Findings

Warm Neutral Medium is the main source of [CII] emission (~58%).

[CII]/FIR ratio decreases due to thermal saturation caused by intense FUV radiation.

Simulation reproduces observed [CII]/FIR trends and the Kennicutt SFR-FIR relation.

Abstract

We present [CII] synthetic observations of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of a dwarf galaxy merger. The merging process varies the star-formation rate by more than three orders of magnitude. Several star clusters are formed, the feedback of which disperses and unbinds the dense gas through expanding HII regions and supernova (SN) explosions. For galaxies with properties similar to the modelled ones, we find that the [CII] emission remains optically thin throughout the merging process. We identify the Warm Neutral Medium ($3<\log T_{\rm gas}<4$ with $\chi_{\rm HI}>2\chi_{\rm H2}$) to be the primary source of [CII] emission ($\sim58\%$ contribution), although at stages when the HII regions are young and dense (during star cluster formation or SNe in the form of ionized bubbles) they can contribute $\gtrsim50\%$ to the total [CII] emission. We find that the [CII]/FIR ratio decreases due to thermal saturation of the [CII] emission caused by strong FUV radiation fields emitted by the massive star clusters, leading to a [CII]-deficit medium. We investigate the [CII]-SFR relation and find an approximately linear correlation which agrees well with observations, particularly those from the Dwarf Galaxy Survey. Our simulation reproduces the observed trends of [CII]/FIR versus $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ and $\Sigma_{\rm FIR}$, and it agrees well with the Kennicutt relation of SFR-FIR luminosity. We propose that local peaks of [CII] in resolved observations may provide evidence for ongoing massive cluster formation.