Sp1149. I. Constraints on the Balmer L–σ Relation for H ii Regions in a Spiral Galaxy at Redshift z = 1.49 Strongly Lensed by the MACS J1149 Cluster

Abstract

Abstract The luminosities (L) and velocity dispersions (σ) of the extinction-corrected Balmer emission lines of giant H ii regions in nearby galaxies exhibit a tight correlation (∼0.35 dex scatter). There are few constraints, however, on whether giant H ii regions at significant look-back times follow an L–σ relation, given the angular resolution and sensitivity required to study them individually. We measure the luminosities and velocity dispersions of Hα and Hβ emission from 11 H ii regions in Sp1149, a spiral galaxy at redshift (z) z = 1.49 multiply imaged by the MACS J1149 galaxy cluster. Sp1149 is also the host galaxy of the first-known strongly lensed supernova with resolved images, SN Refsdal. We employ archival Keck I OSIRIS observations, and newly acquired Keck I MOSFIRE and Large Binocular Telescope LUCI long-slit spectra of Sp1149. When we use the GLAFIC simply parameterized lens model, we find that the Hα luminosities of the H ii regions at z = 1.49 are a factor of 6.4 − 2.0 + 2.9 brighter than predicted by the low-redshift L–σ relation we measure from Very Large Telescope MUSE spectroscopy. If the lens model is accurate, then the H ii regions in Sp1149 differ from their low-redshift counterparts. We identify an H ii region in Sp1149 that is dramatically brighter (by 2.03 ± 0.44 dex) than our low-redshift L–σ relation predicts given its low velocity dispersion. Finally, the H ii regions in Sp1149 are consistent, perhaps surprisingly, with the z ≈ 0 star-forming locus on the Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich diagram.