Issue |
A&A
Volume 419, Number 1, May III 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 319 - 334 | |
Section | Stellar structure and evolution | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20040074 | |
Published online | 23 April 2004 |
Metallicity and the spectral energy distribution and spectral types of dwarf O-stars
1
Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2
Kapteyn Institute, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
3
SRON, National Institute for Space Reasearch, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Corresponding author: M. R. Mokiem, mokiem@science.uva.nl
Received:
18
November
2002
Accepted:
11
February
2004
We present a systematic study of the effect of metallicity
on the stellar spectral energy distribution (SED) of O main sequence
(dwarf) stars, focussing on the hydrogen and helium ionizing continua,
and on the optical and near-IR lines used for spectral classification.
The spectra are based on non-LTE line blanketed atmosphere models with
stellar winds calculated using the cmfgen code of
[CITE]. We draw the following conclusions. First, we find
that the total number of Lyman photons emitted is almost independent
of line blanketing effects and metallicity for a given effective
temperature. This is because the flux that is blocked by the forest of
metal lines at Å is redistributed mainly within the
Lyman continuum. Second, the spectral type, as defined by the ratio of
the equivalent widths of
λ4471 and
λ4542,
is shown to depend noticeably on the microturbulent velocity in the
atmosphere, on metallicity and, within the luminosity class of
dwarfs, on gravity. Third, we confirm the decrease in Teff for a
given spectral type due to the inclusion of line blanketing recently
found by e.g. [CITE]. Finally, we find that the SED below ~450 Å is highly dependent on metallicity. This is reflected
in the behaviour of nebular fine-structure line ratios such as [
]/[
] 15.5/12.8 and [
]/[
] 9.0/7.0
. This dependence
complicates the use of these nebular ratios as diagnostic tools for
the effective temperature determination of the ionizing stars in
regions and for age dating of starburst regions in galaxies.
Key words: stars: atmospheres / stars: early-type / stars: fundamental parameters / stars: abundances / ISM: HII regions / ISM: planetary nebulae: general
© ESO, 2004
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