Far-ultraviolet Spectra of Main-sequence O Stars at Extremely Low Metallicity

Abstract

Abstract Metal-poor massive stars dominate the light we observe from star-forming dwarf galaxies and may have produced the bulk of energetic photons that reionized the universe at high redshift. Yet, the rarity of observations of individual O stars below the 20% solar metallicity (Z ⊙) of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) hampers our ability to model the ionizing fluxes of metal-poor stellar populations. We present new Hubble Space Telescope far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra of three O-dwarf stars in the galaxies Leo P (3% Z ⊙), Sextans A (6% Z ⊙), and WLM (14% Z ⊙). We quantify equivalent widths of photospheric metal lines and strengths of wind-sensitive features, confirming that both correlate with metallicity. We infer the stars’ fundamental properties by modeling their FUV through near-infrared spectral energy distributions and identify stars in the SMC with similar properties to each of our targets. Comparing to the FUV spectra of the SMC analogs suggests that (1) the star in WLM has an SMC-like metallicity, and (2) the most metal-poor star in Leo P is driving a much weaker stellar wind than its SMC counterparts. We measure projected rotation speeds and find that the two most metal-poor stars have high v sin ( i ) ≥ 290 km s−1, and estimate just a 3%–6% probability of finding two fast rotators if the metal-poor stars are drawn from the same v sin ( i ) distribution observed for O dwarfs in the SMC. These observations suggest that models should include the impact of rotation and weak winds on ionizing flux to accurately interpret observations of metal-poor galaxies in both the near and distant universe.