Slit Observations and Empirical Calculations for HII Regions

Abstract

When analysing HII regions, a possible source of systematic error on empirically derived physical quantities is the limited size of the slit used for the observations. A grid of photoionization models was built through the Aangaba code varying the ionizing radiation spectrum emitted by a stellar cluster, as well as the gas abundance. The calculated line surface brightness was then used to simulate slit observations and to derive empirical parameters using the usual methods described in the literature. Depending on the fraction of the object covered by the slit, the parameters can be different from those obtained from observations of the whole object, an effect that is mainly dependent on the age of the ionizing stellar cluster. The low-ionization forbidden lines are more sensitive to the size of the area covered by the slit than the high-ionization forbidden lines or recombination lines. Regarding the temperature indicator T[OIII], the slit effects are small since this temperature is derived from [OIII] lines. On the other hand, for the abundance indicator R23, which depends also on the [OII] line, the slit effect is slightly higher. Therefore, the systematic error due to slit observations on the O abundance is low, being usually less than 10%, except for HII regions powered by stellar clusters with a relative low number of ionizing photons between 13.6 and 54.4 eV, which create a smaller O++ emitting volume. In this case, the systematic error on the empirical O abundance deduced from slit observations is more than 10% when the covered area is less than 50%.