Narrow-band Hα imaging of nearby Wolf–Rayet galaxies

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present narrow-band Hα imaging of nearby Wolf–Rayet (WR) galaxies known as a subset of starburst galaxies. The Hα images have been used to show morphology of star-forming regions in galaxies, which leads to speculate that the studied galaxies have most likely experienced merger or interaction with low luminous dwarf galaxies or H i clouds. We further derive the Hα-based star formation rates (SFRs) in galaxies using our Hα observations. These SFRs are well correlated with SFRs derived using other indicators at far-ultraviolet, far-infrared, and 1.4-GHz radio wavebands. It is noticed that the infrared excess (IRX) method gives the best SFR estimates, consistent with different models predication. These models also predict that the sample galaxies have probably gone through a continuous star formation at least for 1 Gyr over which the recent (<10 Myr) star formation has taken place in WR phase. This study presents main-sequence (MS) relation for nearby WR galaxies for the first time. This derived MS relation is found to be similar to previously known MS relation for normal nearby star-forming galaxies, suggesting that WR systems evolve in a similar fashion as normal star-forming galaxies evolve.