PHANGS-JWST First Results: Multiwavelength View of Feedback-driven Bubbles (the Phantom Voids) across NGC 628
Abstract
We present a high-resolution view of bubbles within the Phantom Galaxy (NGC 628), a nearby (~10 Mpc), star-forming (~2 M ⊙ yr-1), face-on (i ~ 9°) grand-design spiral galaxy. With new data obtained as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS)-JWST treasury program, we perform a detailed case study of two regions of interest, one of which contains the largest and most prominent bubble in the galaxy (the Phantom Void, over 1 kpc in diameter), and the other being a smaller region that may be the precursor to such a large bubble (the Precursor Phantom Void). When comparing to matched-resolution Hα observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, we see that the ionized gas is brightest in the shells of both bubbles, and is coincident with the youngest (~1 Myr) and most massive (~105 M ⊙) stellar associations. We also find an older generation (~20 Myr) of stellar associations is present within the bubble of the Phantom Void. From our kinematic analysis of the H I, H2 (CO), and H II gas across the Phantom Void, we infer a high expansion speed of around 15 to 50 km s-1. The large size and high expansion speed of the Phantom Void suggest that the driving mechanism is sustained stellar feedback due to multiple mechanisms, where early feedback first cleared a bubble (as we observe now in the Precursor Phantom Void), and since then supernovae have been exploding within the cavity and have accelerated the shell. Finally, comparison to simulations shows a striking resemblance to our JWST observations, and suggests that such large-scale, stellar-feedback-driven bubbles should be common within other galaxies.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- February 2023
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2212.00812
- Bibcode:
- 2023ApJ...944L..22B
- Keywords:
-
- Superbubbles;
- Stellar feedback;
- Interstellar medium;
- Infrared astronomy;
- 1656;
- 1602;
- 847;
- 786;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 12 pages total, 8 figures, and 1 table. Accepted as part of a PHANGS-JWST Focus Issue to appear in ApJ