We combine state-of-the-art models for the production of stellar radiation and its transfer through the interstellar medium (ISM) to investigate ultraviolet-line diagnostics of stars, the ionized and the neutral ISM in star-forming galaxies. We start by assessing the reliability of our stellar population synthesis modelling by fitting absorption-line indices in the ISM-free ultraviolet spectra of 10 Large Magellanic Cloud clusters. In doing so, we find that neglecting stochastic sampling of the stellar initial mass function in these young (similar to 10-100 Myr), low-mass clusters affects negligibly ultraviolet-based age and metallicity estimates but can lead to significant overestimates of stellar mass. Then, we proceed and develop a simple approach, based on an idealized description of the main features of the ISM, to compute in a physically consistent way the combined influence of nebular emission and interstellar absorption on ultraviolet spectra of star-forming galaxies. Our model accounts for the transfer of radiation through the ionized interiors and outer neutral envelopes of short-lived stellar birth clouds, as well as for radiative transfer through a diffuse intercloud medium. We use this approach to explore the entangled signatures of stars, the ionized and the neutral ISM in ultraviolet spectra of star-forming galaxies. We find that, aside from a few notable exceptions, most standard ultraviolet indices defined in the spectra of ISM-free stellar populations are prone to significant contamination by the ISM, which increases with metallicity. We also identify several nebular-emission and interstellar-absorption features, which stand out as particularly clean tracers of the different phases of the ISM.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/625298 |
| Date | 09 1900 |
| Creators | Vidal-García, A., Charlot, S., Bruzual, G., Hubeny, I. |
| Contributors | Univ Arizona, Steward Observ, Univ Arizona, Dept Astron |
| Publisher | OXFORD UNIV PRESS |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society |
| Relation | https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stx1324 |
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