Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter Stars

Wednesday, 15 September 2021, 16:35   (virtual Stars)

Classification of emission-line nebulae in the PHANGS-MUSE sample: a Bayesian approach

Enrico Congiu
Universidad de Chile

The PHANGS-MUSE survey offers us an unprecedented view of the ionized interstellar medium of nearby star-forming galaxies. The high spatial resolution (~50 pc) allows us to identify and isolate single emitting clouds, while the broad spectral range offers us the opportunity to study their properties in detail. However, a correct classification of the nebulae (e.g., HII regions, planetary nebulae, supernova remnants) is critical to study them and their role in galaxy evolution properly. Many classification schemes have been developed in the literature in the last few decades. Still, none of them can take advantage of all the information provided by MUSE@VLT integral-field spectra. In this talk, I will present the first results of a new algorithm that aims to reliably and objectively classify nebulae, using the Bayesian principle of the odds ratio to compare spectral and morphological properties of each region to models representing the different classes of nebulae. This algorithm will be applied to the nebulae identified in the PHANGS-MUSE survey to produce the most extensive catalog of classified ionized nebulae available in the literature.