EMPRESS. II. Highly Fe-enriched Metal-poor Galaxies with similar to 1.0 (Fe/O)(circle dot) and 0.02 (O/H)(circle dot): Possible Traces of Supermassive (>300 M (circle dot)) Stars in Early Galaxies* dagger double dagger

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Takashi Kojima
  • Masami Ouchi
  • Michael Rauch
  • Yoshiaki Ono
  • Kimihiko Nakajima
  • Yuki Isobe
  • Seiji Fujimoto
  • Yuichi Harikane
  • Takuya Hashimoto
  • Masao Hayashi
  • Yutaka Komiyama
  • Haruka Kusakabe
  • Ji Hoon Kim
  • Chien-Hsiu Lee
  • Shiro Mukae
  • Tohru Nagao
  • Masato Onodera
  • Takatoshi Shibuya
  • Yuma Sugahara
  • Masayuki Umemura
  • And 1 others
  • Kiyoto Yabe

We present element abundance ratios and ionizing radiation of local young low-mass (similar to 10(6) M (circle dot)) extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with a 2% solar oxygen abundance (O/H)(circle dot) and a high specific star formation rate (sSFR similar to 300 Gyr(-1)) and other (extremely) metal-poor galaxies, which are compiled from Extremely Metal-Poor Representatives Explored by the Subaru Survey (EMPRESS) and the literature. Weak emission lines such as [Fe iii] lambda 4658 and He ii lambda 4686 are detected in very deep optical spectra of the EMPGs taken with 8 m class telescopes, including Keck and Subaru, enabling us to derive element abundance ratios with photoionization models. We find that neon-to-oxygen and argon-to-oxygen ratios are comparable to those of known local dwarf galaxies and that the nitrogen-to-oxygen abundance ratios (N/O) are lower than 20% (N/O)(circle dot), consistent with the low oxygen abundance. However, the iron-to-oxygen abundance ratios (Fe/O) of the EMPGs are generally high; the EMPGs with the 2%-solar oxygen abundance show high Fe/O ratios of similar to 90%-140% (Fe/O)(circle dot), which are unlikely to be explained by suggested scenarios of Type Ia supernova iron productions, iron's dust depletion, and metal-poor gas inflow onto previously metal-riched galaxies with solar abundances. Moreover, the EMPGs with the 2%-solar oxygen abundance have very high He ii lambda 4686/H beta ratios of similar to 1/40, which are not reproduced by existing models of high-mass X-ray binaries with progenitor stellar masses M (circle dot). Comparing stellar-nucleosynthesis and photoionization models with a comprehensive sample of EMPGs identified by this and previous EMPG studies, we propose that both the high Fe/O ratios and the high He ii lambda 4686/H beta ratios are explained by the past existence of supermassive (>300 M (circle dot)) stars, which may evolve into intermediate-mass black holes (greater than or similar to 100 M (circle dot)).

Original languageEnglish
Article number22
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume913
Issue number1
Number of pages20
ISSN0004-637X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 May 2021

    Research areas

  • ELECTRON-IMPACT EXCITATION, EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES, DIGITAL SKY SURVEY, X-RAY BINARIES, PRESSURE-DOMINATED PHOTOIONIZATION, HARD IONIZING SPECTRUM, LY-ALPHA EMITTERS, FORMING GALAXIES, TRANSITION-PROBABILITIES, COLLISION STRENGTHS

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