Galactic Mysteries Unraveled: Dwarf Galaxies Revealed As Unexpected Star-Forming Powerhouses

If you gaze at the vast galaxies filled with countless stars, it’s easy to assume they are star factories, churning out brilliant balls of gas. However, it’s the less evolved dwarf galaxies dwarf galaxies have bigger regions of star factories, with higher rates of star formation.

Recent findings by researchers from the University of Michigan shed light on this phenomenon: Dwarf galaxies experience a delay of about 10 million years before they expel the gas congesting their space. This delay allows star-forming regions in these galaxies to retain their gas and dust longer, fostering the formation and development of more stars.

Dwarf Galaxies: Cradles of Star Formation

In these relatively pristine dwarf galaxies, massive stars—stars about 20 to 200 times the mass of our sun—collapse into black holes instead of exploding as supernovae. But in more evolved, polluted galaxies, like our Milky WayThe Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System and is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is a barred spiral galaxy that contains an estimated 100-400 billion stars and has a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light-years. The name "Milky Way" comes from the appearance of the galaxy from Earth as a faint band of light that stretches across the night sky, resembling spilled milk.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Milky Way, they are more likely to explode, thereby generating a collective superwind. Gas and dust get blasted out of the galaxy, and star formation quickly stops.

The cutout of Mrk 71-A from the Hubble Space Telescope, which is the region demonstrating strong radiative cooling (and therefore lack of superwind). Credit: Observatorio de Calar Alto, J. van Eymeren (AIRUB, ATNF) & Á.R. López-Sánchez

Their findings are published in the Astrophysical JournalThe Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that focuses on the publication of original research on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics. It is one of the most prestigious journals in the field, and is published by the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The journal publishes articles on a wide range of topics, including the structure, dynamics, and evolution of the universe; the properties of stars, planets, and galaxies; and the nature of dark matter, dark energy, and the early universe.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Astrophysical Journal.

“As stars go supernova, they pollute their environment by producing and releasing metals,” said Michelle Jecmen, study first author and an undergraduate researcher. “We argue that at low metallicity—galaxy environments that are relatively unpolluted—there is a 10-million-year delay in the start of strong superwinds, which, in turn, results in higher star formation.” 

The Hubble Tuning Fork and Galactic Classification

The U-M researchers point to what’s called the Hubble tuning fork, a diagram that depicts the way astronomer Edwin Hubble classified galaxies. In the handle of the tuning fork are the largest galaxies. Huge, round, and brimming with stars, these galaxies have already turned all of their gas into stars. Along the tines of the tuning fork are spiral galaxies that do have gas and star-forming regions along their compact arms. At the end of the tuning fork’s tines are the least evolved, smallest galaxies.

“But these dwarf galaxies have just these really mondo star-forming regions,” said U-M astronomer Sally Oey, senior author of the study. “There have been some ideas around why that is, but Michelle’s finding offers a very nice explanation: These galaxies have trouble stopping their star formation because they don’t blow away their gas.”

Additionally, this 10-million-year period of quiet offers astronomers the opportunity to peer at scenarios similar to the cosmic dawn, a period of time just after the Big BangThe Big Bang is the leading cosmological model explaining how the universe as we know it began approximately 13.8 billion years ago.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Big Bang, Jecmen said. In pristine dwarf galaxies, gas clumps together and forms gaps through which radiation can escape. This previously known phenomenon is called the “picket fence” model, with UV radiation escaping between slats in the fence. The delay explains why gas would have had time to clump together.

Cosmic Dawn and Ultraviolet Radiation

Ultraviolet radiation is important because it ionizes hydrogen—a process that also occurred right after the Big Bang, causing the universe to go from opaque to transparent. 

“And so looking at low-metallicity dwarf galaxies with lots of UV radiation is somewhat similar to looking all the way back to the cosmic dawn,” Jecmen said. “Understanding the time near the Big Bang is so interesting. It’s foundational to our knowledge. It’s something that happened so long ago—it’s so fascinating that we can see sort of similar situations in galaxies that exist today.”

Observational Evidence

A second study, published in the Astrophysical Journal LettersThe Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that focuses on the rapid publication of short, significant letters and papers on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics. It is one of the journals published by the American Astronomical Society (AAS), and is considered one of the most prestigious journals in the field.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Astrophysical Journal Letters and led by Oey, used the Hubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as Hubble or HST) is one of NASA's Great Observatories and was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990. It is one of the largest and most versatile space telescopes in use and features a 2.4-meter mirror and four main instruments that observe in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was named after astronomer Edwin Hubble.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Hubble Space Telescope to look at Mrk 71, a region in a nearby dwarf galaxy about 10 million light years away. In Mrk 71, the team found observational evidence of Jecmen’s scenario. Using a new technique with the Hubble Space Telescope, the team employed a filter set that looks at the light of triply ionized carbon. 

In more evolved galaxies with lots of supernova explosions, those explosions heat gas in a star cluster to very high temperatures—to millions of degrees Kelvin, Oey said. As this hot superwind expands, it blasts the rest of the gas out of the star clusters. But in low metallicity environments such as Mrk 71, where stars aren’t blowing up, energy within the region is radiated away. It doesn’t have the chance to form a superwind.

The team’s filters picked up a diffuse glow of the ionized carbon throughout Mrk 71, demonstrating that the energy is radiating away. Therefore, there is no hot superwind, instead allowing dense gas to remain throughout the environment. 

Oey and Jecmen say there are many implications for their work.

“Our findings may also be important in explaining the properties of galaxies that are being seen at cosmic dawn by the James Webb Space TelescopeThe James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or Webb) is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. It covers longer wavelengths of light, with greatly improved sensitivity, allowing it to see inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today as well as looking further back in time to observe the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>James Webb Space Telescope right now,” Oey said. “I think we’re still in the process of understanding the consequences.”

References: “Delayed Massive-star Mechanical Feedback at Low Metallicity” by Michelle C. Jecmen and M. S. Oey, 21 November 2023, The Astrophysical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0460

“Nebular C iv λ1550 Imaging of the Metal-poor Starburst Mrk 71: Direct Evidence of Catastrophic Cooling” by M. S. Oey, Amit N. Sawant, Ashkbiz Danehkar, Sergiy Silich, Linda J. Smith, Jens Melinder, Claus Leitherer, Matthew Hayes, Anne E. Jaskot, Daniela Calzetti, You-Hua Chu, Bethan L. James and Göran Östlin, 21 November 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad07dd