ABSTRACT
We present here the second part of a project that aims at solving the controversy regarding the issue of the bar effect on the radial distribution of metals in the gas-phase of spiral ...galaxies. In Paper I, we presented a compilation of more than 2800 H ii regions belonging to 51 nearby galaxies for which we derived chemical abundances and radial abundance profiles from a homogeneous methodology. In this paper, we analyse the derived gas-phase radial abundance profiles of 12+log (O/H) and log (N/O), for barred and unbarred galaxies separately, and find that the differences in slope between barred and unbarred galaxies depend on galaxy luminosity. This is due to a different dependence of the abundance gradients (in dex kpc−1) on luminosity for the two types of galaxies: in the galaxy sample under consideration the gradients appear to be considerably shallower for strongly barred galaxies in the whole luminosity range, while profile slopes for unbarred galaxies become steeper with decreasing luminosity. Therefore, we only detect differences in slope for the lower luminosity (lower mass) galaxies (MB ≳ −19.5 or M* ≲ 1010.4 M⊙). We discuss the results in terms of the disc evolution and radial mixing induced by bars and spiral arms. Our results reconcile previous discrepant findings that were biased by the luminosity (mass) distribution of the sample galaxies and possibly by the abundance diagnostics employed.
ABSTRACT
Studies of gas-phase radial metallicity profiles in spirals published in the last decade have diminished the importance of galactic bars as agents that mix and flatten the profiles, ...contradicting results obtained in the 1990s. We have collected a large sample of 2831 published H ii region emission-line fluxes in 51 nearby galaxies, including objects both with and without the presence of a bar, with the aim of revisiting the issue of whether bars affect the radial metal distribution in spirals. In this first paper of a series of two, we present the galaxy and the H ii region samples. The methodology is homogeneous for the whole data sample and includes the derivation of H ii region chemical abundances, structural parameters of bars and discs, galactocentric distances, and radial abundance profiles. We have obtained O/H and N/O abundance ratios from the Te-based (direct) method for a subsample of 610 regions, and from a variety of strong-line methods for the whole H ii region sample. The strong-line methods have been evaluated in relation to the Te-based one from both a comparison of the derived O/H and N/O abundances for individual H ii regions and a comparison of the abundance gradients derived from both methodologies. The median value and the standard deviation of the gradient distributions depend on the abundance method, and those based on the O3N2 indicator tend to flatten the steepest profiles, reducing the range of observed gradients. A detailed analysis and discussion of the derived O/H and N/O radial abundance gradients and y-intercepts for barred and unbarred galaxies is presented in the companion Paper II. The whole H ii region catalogue including emission-line fluxes, positions, and derived abundances is made publicly available on the CDS VizieR facility, together with the radial abundance gradients for all galaxies.
ABSTRACT
We estimate chemical abundances and ionization parameters in the nuclear region of a sample of 143 galaxies from the Palomar Spectroscopic Survey, composed by star-forming galaxies (87), ...Seyferts 2 (16), and LINERs (40) using the hii-chi-mistry code. We also study for each spectral type the correlation of the derived quantities with other different properties of the host galaxies, such as morphology, stellar mass, luminosity, and mass of their supermassive black holes. The results obtained for star-forming galaxies are used to check the soundness of our methodology. Then, we replicate a similar study for our sample of AGN, distinguishing between Seyferts 2 and LINERs. We report a saturation of Oxygen abundances for the nuclear regions of SFG. The correlations between chemical abundances and their host galaxy properties for SFG are in good agreement with previous studies. We find that Seyferts 2 present slightly higher chemical abundances but this result must be reexamined in larger samples of Seyfert galaxies. In contrast, we obtain lower chemical abundances for LINERs than for SFG. We confirm these relatively lower abundances for another sample of infrared luminous LINERs in the same stellar mass range. Our analysis of AGNs (both LINERs and Seyferts) shows that their host galaxy properties are not correlated with our estimated chemical abundances.
ABSTRACT
Using new Very Large Telescope (VLT)/XShooter spectral observations we analyse the physical properties of five z ∼ 0.3–0.4 confirmed Lyman continuum (LyC) leakers. Strong resonant Mg ...ii λλ2796, 2803 Å emission lines (I(λλ2796, 2803)/I(Hβ) ≃ 10–38 per cent) and non-resonant Fe ii* λλ2612, 2626 Å emission lines are observed in spectra of five and three galaxies, respectively. We find high electron densities Ne ∼ 400 cm−3, significantly higher than in typical low-z, but comparable to those measured in z ∼ 2–3 star-forming galaxies (SFGs). The galaxies have a mean value of log N/O = –1.16, close to the maximum values found for SFGs in the metallicity range of 12 + log O/H ≃ 7.7–8.1. All 11 low-z LyC emitting galaxies found by Izotov et al., including the ones considered in this study, are characterized by high equivalent width (EW) (Hβ) ∼ 200–400 Å, high ionization parameter (log(U) = –2.5 to –1.7), high average ionizing photon production efficiency ξ = 1025.54 Hz erg−1, and hard ionizing radiation. On the Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich (BPT) diagram we find the same offset of our leakers from low-z main-sequence SFGs as that for local analogues of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and extreme SFGs at z ∼ 2–3. We confirm the effectiveness of the He i emission lines diagnostics proposed by Izotov et al. in searching for LyC leaker candidates and find that their intensity ratios correspond to those in a median with low neutral hydrogen column density N(H i) = 1017–5 × 1017 cm−2 that permit leakage of LyC radiation, likely due to their density-bounded H ii regions.
We present deep broadband imaging and long-slit spectroscopy of three compact, low-mass starburst galaxies at redshift z ~ 0.2-0.3, also referred to as Green Peas (GP). We measure physical properties ...of the ionized gas and derive abundances for several species with high precision. We find that the three GPs display relatively low extinction, low oxygen abundances, and remarkably high nitrogen-to-oxygen ratios. We also report on the detection of clear signatures of Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars in these galaxies. We carry out a pilot spectral synthesis study using a combination of both population and evolutionary synthesis models. Their outputs are in qualitative agreement, strongly suggesting a formation history dominated by starbursts. In agreement with the presence of W-R stars, these models show that these GPs currently undergo a major starburst producing between ~4% and ~20% of their stellar mass. However, as models imply, they are old galaxies that formed most of their stellar mass several Gyr ago. The presence of old stars has been spectroscopically verified in one of the galaxies by the detection of Mg I lambdalambda5167, 5173 absorption lines. Additionally, we perform a surface photometry study based on Hubble Space Telescope data, which indicates that the three galaxies possess an exponential low surface brightness envelope. If due to stellar emission, the latter is structurally compatible with the evolved hosts of luminous blue compact dwarf (BCD)/H II galaxies, suggesting that GPs are identifiable with major episodes in the assembly history of local BCDs. These conclusions highlight the importance of these objects as laboratories for studying galaxy evolution at late cosmic epochs.
ABSTRACT
We present maps for the electron temperature in the inner kpc of three luminous Seyfert galaxies: Mrk 79, Mrk 348, and Mrk 607 obtained from Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph-integral field ...unit observations at spatial resolutions of ∼110–280 pc. We study the distributions of electron temperature in active galaxies and find temperatures varying in the range from ∼8000 to $\gtrsim 30\, 000\,$K. Shocks due to gas outflows play an important role in the observed temperature distributions of Mrk 79 and Mrk 348, while standard photoionization models reproduce the derived temperature values for Mrk 607. In Mrk 79 and Mrk 348, we find direct evidence for shock ionization with overall orientation orthogonal to the ionization axis, where shocks can be easily observed as the active galactic nuclei radiation field is shielded by the nuclear dusty torus. This also indicates that even when the ionization cones are narrow, the shocks can be much wider angle.
Context. The study of the radial variations of metallicity across the Galactic disc is a powerful method for understanding the history of star formation and chemical evolution of the Milky Way. ...Although several studies about gradients have been performed so far, the knowledge of the Galactic antincentre is still poor. Aims. This work aims to determine accurately the physical and chemical properties of a sample of H ii regions located at RG > 11 kpc and to study the radial distribution of abundances in the outermost part of the Galaxy disc. Methods. We carried out new optical spectroscopic observations of nine H ii regions with the William Herschel Telescope covering the spectral range from 3500 Å to 10 100 Å. In addition, we increased the sample by searching the literature for optical observations of regions towards the Galactic anticentre, re-analysing them to obtain a single sample of 23 objects to be processed in a homogeneous and consistent manner. The total sample distribution covers the Galactocentric radius from 11 kpc to 18 kpc. Results. Emission line ratios were used to determine accurate electron densities and temperatures of several ionic species in 13 H ii regions. These physical parameters were applied to the spectra to determine direct total chemical abundances. For those regions without direct estimations of temperature, chemical abundances were derived by performing tailor-made photoionisation models and/or by using an empirical relation obtained from radio recombination and optical temperatures. We performed weighted least-squares fits to the distribution of the derived abundances along the Galactocentric distances to study the radial gradients of metallicity across the outermost part of the MW. The distributions O/H, N/H, S/H, and Ar/H towards the anticentre can be represented by decreasing linear radial gradients, while in the case of N/O abundances the radial distribution is better fitted with a two-zone model. The He/H radial gradient is presented here for the first time; we find a slope that is not significantly different from zero. The derived gradient for oxygen shows a clear decrease with distance with a slope of −0.053 ± 0.009 dex kpc-1. Although a shallower slope at large Galactocentric distances is suggested by our data, the flattening of the distribution cannot be confirmed and more objects towards the anticentre need to be studied in order to establish the true form of the metallicity gradient.
ABSTRACT
Local star-forming galaxies show properties that are thought to differ from galaxies in the early Universe. Among them, the ionizing stellar populations and the gas geometry make the recipes ...designed to derive chemical abundances from nebular emission lines to differ from those calibrated in the Local Universe. A sample of 1969 extreme emission-line galaxies (EELGs) at a redshift 0 ≲ z ≲ 0.49, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to be local analogues of high-redshift galaxies, was used to analyse their most prominent emission lines and to derive total oxygen abundances and nitrogen-to-oxygen ratios following the direct method in the ranges 7.7 < 12 + log(O/H) < 8.6 and –1.8 < log(N/O) < –0.8. They allow us to obtain new empirically calibrated strong-line methods and to evaluate other recipes based on photoionization models that can be later used for a chemical analysis of actively star-forming galaxies in very early stages of galaxy evolution. Our new relations are in agreement with others found for smaller samples of objects at higher redshifts. When compared with other relations calibrated in the local Universe, they differ when the employed strong-line ratio depends on the hardness of the ionizing radiation, such as O32 or Ne3O2, but they do not when the main dependence is on the ionization parameter, such as S23. In the case of strong-line ratios depending on N ii lines, the derivation of O/H becomes very uncertain due to the very high N/O values derived in this sample, above all in the low-metallicity regime. Finally, we adapt the Bayesian-like code H ii-chi-mistry for the conditions found in this kind of galaxies and we prove that it can be used to derive within errors both O/H and N/O, in consistency with the direct method.
ABSTRACT
We investigate the ionized gas kinematics, physical properties, and chemical abundances of Sloan Digital Sky Survey J142947, a Green Pea galaxy at redshift z∼ 0.17 with strong, double-peak ...Ly α emission and indirect evidence of Lyman continuum (LyC) leakage. Using high-dispersion spectroscopy, we perform a multicomponent analysis of emission-line profiles. Our model consistently fits all lines as a narrow component with intrinsic velocity dispersion σ ∼ 40 km s−1, and two broader blue-shifted components with σ ∼ 90 and ∼ 250 km s−1. We find electron densities and temperatures, ionization conditions, and direct O/H and N/O abundances for each component. A highly ionized, metal-poor, young and compact starburst dominates narrow emission, showing evidence of hard radiation fields and elevated N/O. The blue-shifted broader components are consistent with highly turbulent, possibly clumpy ionized gas at the base of a strong photoionized outflow, which accounts for ≳50 per cent of the integrated emission-line fluxes. The outflow is dense and metal-enriched compared to the H ii regions, with expansion velocities larger than those obtained from UV interstellar absorption lines under standard assumptions. Some of these metals may be able to escape, with outflows loading factors comparable to those found in high-z galaxies of similar SFR/Area. Our findings depict a two-stage starburst picture; hard radiation fields from young star clusters illuminate a turbulent and clumpy ISM that has been eroded by SNe feedback. Whilst UV data suggest an extended Ly α halo with high average H i column density, LyC photons could only escape from SDSS J142947 through low H i density channels or filaments in the ISM approaching density-bounded conditions, traced by outflowing gas.
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