The ionization structure and chemical history in isolated H II regions of dwarf galaxies with IFU I. The Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy

Abstract

Studying metal-poor galaxies is crucial for understanding the physical mechanisms driving the evolution of galaxies. Most observational works in dwarf galaxies employ integral field unit data to investigate gas physics in the entire galaxy body. However, previous studies have not explored the detailed spatially resolved properties of individual extragalactic HII regions. We study the only known HII region in the SagDIG dIrr, a metal-poor dwarf galaxy of the local universe, using VIMOS-IFU/VLT and EFOSC2/NTT archival data. We aim to probe the structure of the gaseous nebulae to (i) give insights into the physical processes shaping its gas dynamics, and (ii) relate these mechanisms to the low gas-phase metallicity content estimated with the direct method. The H$\beta$ emission line map shows two clumps as a biconic-like structure aligned across the same axis. The [OIII]$\lambda$5007 map, on the other hand, shows a more symmetric structure. Radial flux density profiles exhibit signatures of ionized stratification. By comparing the gas structure with the stellar population in the same region, the young stellar population ($<700$ Myr) are found closer to the edges of the biconic-like structure. We estimate 12+log(O/H) = $7.23\pm0.04$ dex with the direct method, considering the whole nebula. Temperature fluctuations are detected, as variations of $T_{e}$ from $\sim 23400$K to $\sim 22000$K, and oxygen abundances from 7.24$\pm0.05$ to 7.50$\pm0.14$ dex, from the centre to the outskirts, respectively. In addition, SagDIG is in line with the low-mass end of the MZR. The observed stratification, the distribution of young MS stars, and the metal-poor content of the HII region suggest that the evolution of SagDIG seems to be actively shaped by stellar feedback processes, likely as the result of extragalactic HII regions being subject to the same gas physics as HII regions of the Milky-Way.