Spatially resolved integral field spectroscopy of the ionized gas in IZw18

Abstract: We present a detailed 2D study of the ionized ISM of IZw18 using new PMAS-IFU optical observations. IZw18 is a high-ionization galaxy which is among the most metal-poor starbursts in the local Universe. This makes IZw18 a local benchmark for understanding the properties most closely resembling those prevailing at distant starbursts. Our IFU-aperture (~ 1.4 kpc x 1.4 kpc) samples the entire IZw18 main body and an extended region of its ionized gas. Maps of relevant emission lines and emission line ratios show that higher-excitation gas is preferentially located close to the NW knot and thereabouts. We detect a Wolf-Rayet feature near the NW knot. We derive spatially resolved and integrated physical-chemical properties for the ionized gas in IZw18. We find no dependence between the metallicity-indicator R23 and the ionization parameter (as traced by [OIII]/[OII]) across IZw18. Over ~ 0.30 kpc^2, using the [OIII]4363 line, we compute Te[OIII] values (~ 15000 - 25000 K), and oxygen abundances are derived from the direct determinations of Te[OIII]. More than 70% of the higher-TeOIII spaxels are HeII4686-emitting spaxels too. From a statistical analysis, we study the presence of variations in the ISM physical-chemical properties. A galaxy-wide homogeneity, across hundreds of parsecs, is seen in O/H. Based on spaxel-by-spaxel measurements, the error-weighted mean of 12 + log(O/H) = 7.11 +/- 0.01 is taken as the representative O/H for IZw18. Aperture effects on the derivation of O/H are discussed. Using our IFU data we obtain, for the first time, the IZw18 integrated spectrum.