No Diffuse H2 in the Metal-deficient Galaxy I Zw 18

The metal-deficient starburst galaxy I Zw 18 has been observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) in a search for H2 molecules. The spectrum obtained with an aperture covering the full galaxy shows no absorption lines of diffuse H2 at the radial velocity of the galaxy. The upper limit for the diffuse H2 column density is found to be very low, N(H2) ≲ 1015 cm-2 (10 σ), unlike our Galaxy where H2 is generally present for even low H I column densities. Although the H I column density here is as high as N(H I) ≈ 2 × 1021 cm-2, we observe 2N(H2)/N(H I) ≪ 10-6. We cannot exclude the possibility that some H2 could be in very dense, small, and discrete clumps that cannot be detected with the present observation. However, the remarkable absence of diffuse H2 in this metal-poor galaxy can be explained by the low abundance of dust grains (needed to form this molecule from H atoms), the high ultraviolet flux, and the low density of the H I cloud surrounding the star-forming regions. Thus, having eliminated diffuse H2 as a significant contributor to the total mass, it appears that the gas of the galaxy is dominated by H I and that the high dynamical mass is not composed of cold and diffuse baryonic dark matter.