CLASSY IV: Exploring UV diagnostics of the interstellar medium in local high-$z$ analogs at the dawn of the JWST era

TL;DR

This paper introduces a UV diagnostic toolkit for analyzing the interstellar medium in local high-redshift analogs, calibrated against optical spectra, to aid in interpreting JWST observations of distant galaxies.

Contribution

It develops and calibrates new UV diagnostics for ISM properties, validated with optical data, enhancing the analysis of high-z galaxy spectra from JWST.

Findings

UV density diagnostics yield higher electron densities than optical diagnostics.

The Te ratio OIII]1666/[OIII]5007 reliably estimates electron temperature.

UV line ratios correlate with metallicity and ionization parameter but show degeneracies.

Abstract

The COS Legacy Archive Spectroscopic SurveY (CLASSY) HST/COS treasury program provides the first high-resolution spectral catalogue of 45 local high-z analogues in the UV (1200-2000\AA) to investigate their stellar and gas properties. We present a toolkit of UV interstellar medium (ISM) diagnostics, analyzing the main emission lines of CLASSY spectra (i.e., NIV]$\lambda\lambda$1483,87, CIV$\lambda\lambda$1548,51, HeII$\lambda$1640, OIII]$\lambda\lambda$1661,6, SiIII]$\lambda\lambda$1883,92, CIII]$\lambda\lambda$1907,9). Specifically, we focus our investigation on providing accurate diagnostics for reddening, electron density and temperature, gas-phase metallicity and ionization parameter, taking into account the different ionization zones of the ISM. We calibrate our UV toolkit using well-known optical diagnostics, analyzing archival optical spectra for all the CLASSY targets. We find that UV density diagnostics estimate ne values that are ~1-2 dex higher (e.g., ne(CIII]$\lambda\lambda$}1907,9)~10$^4$cm$^{-3}$) than those inferred from their optical counterparts (e.g., ne([SII]$\lambda\lambda$6717,31)~10$^2$cm$^{-3}$). Te derived from the hybrid ratio OIII]$\lambda$1666/[OIII]$\lambda$}5007 proves to be a reliable Te diagnostic, with differences in 12+log(O/H) within ~$\pm$0.3dex. We also investigate the relation between the stellar and gas E(B-V), finding consistent values at high specific star formation rates, while at low sSFR we confirm an excess of dust attenuation in the gas. Finally, we investigate UV line ratios and equivalent widths to provide correlations with 12+log(O/H) and log(U), but note there are degeneracies between the two. With this suite of UV-based diagnostics, we illustrate the pivotal role CLASSY plays in understanding the chemical and physical properties of high-z systems that JWST can observe in the rest-frame UV.