- Lectures
- Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Location
R1203 of the Astronomy-Mathematics Building, National Taiwan University
- Speaker Name
Daniel Wang UMass/ASIAA
- State
Definitive
- Url
Nearby low-metallicity dwarf galaxies are excellent laboratories to study astrophysical processes in the first galaxies at high redshift. I will present the initial results of our multiwavelength study of the dwarf galaxy KUG 1138 + 327 at 24.5 Mpc and its group environment. This galaxy shows an unusual tadpole morphology as a result of a very young starburst with extremely low (6\% solar) metallicity. We obtained Chandra X-ray observations as well as a JVLA continuum and HI survey of the region in several array configurations. The Chandra data reveal a dominant point-like source with an average 0.3-10 keV luminosity of $10^{40.3}$ erg/s and a variability by a factor of $\sim 2$ over months. This extremely luminous X-ray source is apparently associated with the young central cluster of the starburst and has an elongated nonthermal radio continuum counterpart of the order of $\sim 200$~pc. The radio, optical, and X-ray results suggest that the X-ray source could well be an intermediate-mass black hole undergoing sub-Eddington accretion. This scenario also explains the prominent emission lines [He\texttt{II}]$\lambda$4658 and [Ar\texttt{IV}]$\lambda$4711 in the starburst spectrum. These findings provide insights into questions such as: What is the radiation environment produced by the first generation of stars? What are the feedback processes in high-z star-forming regions at very low metallicity? We also find that KUG 1138+327 is associated with two additional far-UV bright dwarf galaxies, a rare phenomenon in the local Universe. The HI morphology of these galaxies strongly suggests that they have undergone tidal interactions, which may explain the recent low-metallicity gas feeding and starburst in KUG 1138+327.