The Ionization of the Warm Gas in Early-type Galaxies and Its UV Upturn

Renbin Yan, Michael R. Blanton
2012 Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union  
It has long been known that the majority of early-type galaxies contain warm ionized gas producing optical emission lines. These warm ionized gas are spatially extended to kpc scales. Their line ratios satisify the criteria of Low-ionization Nuclear Emission-line Regions (LINERs) on all major line-ratio diagnostic diagrams. However, their ionization mechanism has been hotly debated. Multiple ionization mechanisms can produce the same kind of line ratios, including photoionization by a central
more » ... N, photoionization by hot evolved stars (e.g. post-AGB stars), collisional ionization by fast shocks, photoionization by hot X-ray emitting gas, and conductive heating or turbulent mixing. Therefore, determining the ionization mechanism requires other information.
doi:10.1017/s1743921314004967 fatcat:2u7a4gm75bb6bmgogyakaiweyy