64 research outputs found
Chemical Properties of Star-Forming Emission Line Galaxies at z=0.1 - 0.5
We measure oxygen and nitrogen abundances for 14 star-forming emission line
galaxies (ELGs) at 0.11<z<0.5 using Keck/LRIS optical spectroscopy. The targets
exhibit a range of metallicities from slightly metal-poor like the LMC to
super-solar. Oxygen abundances of the sample correlate strongly with rest-frame
blue luminosities. The metallicity-luminosity relation based on these 14
objects is indistinguishable from the one obeyed by local galaxies, although
there is marginal evidence (1.1sigma) that the sample is slightly more
metal-deficient than local galaxies of the same luminosity. The observed
galaxies exhibit smaller emission linewidths than local galaxies of similar
metallicity, but proper corrections for inclination angle and other systematic
effects are unknown. For 8 of the 14 objects we measure nitrogen-to-oxygen
ratios. Seven of 8 systems show evidence for secondary nitrogen production,
with log(N/O)> -1.4 like local spirals. These chemical properties are
inconsistent with unevolved objects undergoing a first burst of star formation.
The majority of the ELGs are presently ~4 magnitudes brighter and ~0.5 dex more
metal-rich than the bulk of the stars in well-known metal-poor dwarf
spheroidals such as NGC 205 and NGC 185, making an evolution between some ELGs
and metal-poor dwarf spheroidals improbable. However, the data are consistent
with the hypothesis that more luminous and metal-rich spheroidal galaxies like
NGC 3605 may become the evolutionary endpoints of some ELGs. [abridged]Comment: 41 pages, w/12 figures, uses AASTeX aaspp4.sty, psfig.sty; To appear
in The Astrophysical Journa
The HI content of the recently discovered field dwarf galaxy APPLES1
We present observations in a search for neutral hydrogen associated with the
recently detected field dwarf galaxy APPLES1, performed with the Parkes
radiotelescope. The observed radio spectrum shows no evident (> 3sigma rms)
line emission indicating an upper limit for the HI content of the galaxy of ~
10E6 solar masses and providing an upper value for the M(HI)/L(B) ratio equal
to 2.4 solar masses/solar luminosities. The low value of the HI content
suggested by the observations, together with the galaxy optical morphology,
might indicate that APPLES1 is a dwarf spheroidal. This indication is in
contrast with the evidence of recent star formation, which is typical for dwarf
irregular galaxies. This may suggest that APPLES1 belongs to the class of mixed
dwarf irregular/spheroidal transition-type galaxies. We also conclude that the
relatively low neutral gas mass in APPLES1 can be explained by an extended and
inefficient star formation process, without the need for a dramatic event such
as enhanced star formation or a past encounter with a massive galaxy or galaxy
group.Comment: 5 pages including 2 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Main
Journa
The Hamburg/SAO survey for low metallicity blue compact/HII-galaxies (HSS-LM). I. The first list of 46 strong-lined galaxies
We present the description and the first results of a new project devoted to
the search for extremely metal-deficient blue compact/HII-galaxies (BCGs) and
to the creation of a well selected large BCG sample with strong emission lines.
Such galaxies should be suitable for reliable determination of their oxygen
abundance through the measurement of the faint [OIII]4363A line. The goals of
the project are two-fold: a) to discover a significant number of new extremely
metal-poor galaxies (Z <= 1/20 Zo), and b) to study the metallicity
distribution of local BCGs. Selection of candidates for follow-up slit
spectroscopy is performed on the database of objective prism spectra of the
Hamburg Quasar Survey. The sky region is limited by delta >= 0 deg. and b^ii <=
-30 deg. In this paper we present the results of the follow-up spectroscopy
conducted with the Russian 6m telescope. The list of observed candidates
contained 52 objects, of which 46 were confirmed as strong-lined BCGs
(EW([OIII]5007) >= 100 A). The remaining five lower excitation ELGs include
three BCGs, and two galaxies classified as SBN (Starburst Nucleus) and DANS
(Dwarf Amorphous Nucleus Starburst). One object is identified as a quasar with
a strong Ly_alpha emission line near 5000 A (z~3). We provide a list with
coordinates, measured radial velocities, B-magnitudes, equivalent widths
EW([OIII]5007) and EW(H_beta) and for the 46 strong-lined BCGs the derived
oxygen abundances 12+log(O/H). The abundances range between 7.42 and 8.4
(corresponding to metallicities between 1/30 and 1/3 Zo). The sample contains
four galaxies with Z < 1/20 Zo, of which three are new discoveries.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, corrected
typos, reference
Reexamination of the Radial Abundance Gradient Break in NGC 3359
In this contribution, we reexamine the radial oxygen abundance gradient in
the strongly barred spiral galaxy NGC 3359, for which, using an imaging
spectrophotometric technique, Martin & Roy detected a break near the effective
radius of the galaxy. We have new emission line flux measurements of HII
regions in NGC 3359 from spectra obtained with the Subaru telescope to further
investigate this claim. We find that there are small systematic variations in
the line ratios determined from narrow-band imaging as compared to our
spectroscopic measurements. We derive and apply a correction to the line ratios
found by Martin & Roy and statistically examine the validity of the gradient
break proposed for NGC 3359 using recently developed metallicity diagnostics.
We find that, with a high degree of confidence, a model with a break fits the
data significantly better than one without it. This suggests that the presence
of a strong bar in spiral galaxies can generate measurable changes in the
radial distribution of metals.Comment: Accepted to A
Oxygen and Nitrogen in Leo A and GR 8
We present elemental abundances for multiple HII regions in Leo A and GR 8
obtained from long slit optical spectroscopy of these two nearby low luminosity
dwarf irregular galaxies. As expected from their luminosities, and in agreement
with previous observations, the derived oxygen abundances are extremely low in
both galaxies. High signal-to-noise ratio observations of a planetary nebula in
Leo A yield 12 + log(O/H) = 7.30 +/- 0.05; "semi-empirical" calculations of the
oxygen abundance in four HII regions in Leo A indicate 12 + log(O/H) = 7.38 +/-
0.10. These results confirm that Leo A has one of the lowest ISM metal
abundances of known nearby galaxies. Based on results from two HII regions with
high signal-to-noise measurements of the weak [O III] 4363 line, the mean
oxygen abundance of GR 8 is 12 + log(O/H) = 7.65 +/- 0.06; using "empirical"
and "semi-empirical" methods, similar abundances are derived for 6 other GR 8
HII regions. Similar to previous results in other low metallicity galaxies, the
mean log(N/O) = -1.53 +/- 0.09 for Leo A and -1.51 +/- 0.07 for GR 8. There is
no evidence of significant variations in either O/H or N/O in the HII regions.
The metallicity-luminosity relation for nearby (D < 5 Mpc) dwarf irregular
galaxies with measured oxygen abundances has a mean correlation of 12 +
log(O/H) = 5.67 - 0.151 M_B with a dispersion in oxygen about the relationship
of 0.21. These observations confirm that gas-rich low luminosity galaxies have
extremely low elemental abundances in the ionized gas-phase of their
interstellar media. Although Leo A has one of the lowest metal abundances of
known nearby galaxies, detection of tracers of an older stellar population
indicate that it is not a newly formed galaxy as has been proposed for some
other similarly low metallicity star forming galaxies.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures. Accepted to Ap
An Aromatic Inventory of the Local Volume
Using infrared photometry from the Spitzer Space Telescope, we perform the
first inventory of aromatic feature emission (AFE, but also commonly referred
to as PAH emission) for a statistically complete sample of star-forming
galaxies in the local volume. The photometric methodology involved is
calibrated and demonstrated to recover the aromatic fraction of the IRAC 8
micron flux with a standard deviation of 6% for a training set of 40 SINGS
galaxies (ranging from stellar to dust dominated) with both suitable
mid-infrared Spitzer IRS spectra and equivalent photometry. A potential factor
of two improvement could be realized with suitable 5.5 and 10 micron
photometry, such as what may be provided in the future by JWST. The resulting
technique is then applied to mid-infrared photometry for the 258 galaxies from
the Local Volume Legacy (LVL) survey, a large sample dominated in number by
low-luminosity dwarf galaxies for which obtaining comparable mid-infrared
spectroscopy is not feasible. We find the total LVL luminosity due to five
strong aromatic features in the 8 micron complex to be 2.47E10 solar
luminosities with a mean volume density of 8.8E6 solar luminosities per cubic
Megaparsec. Twenty-four of the LVL galaxies, corresponding to a luminosity cut
at M = -18.22 in the B band, account for 90% of the aromatic luminosity. Using
oxygen abundances compiled from the literature for 129 of the 258 LVL galaxies,
we find a correlation between metallicity and the aromatic to total infrared
emission ratio but not the aromatic to total 8 micron dust emission ratio. A
possible explanation is that metallicity plays a role in the abundance of
aromatic molecules relative to the total dust content, but other factors such
as star formation and/or the local radiation field affect the excitation of
those molecules.Comment: ApJ in press; 29 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables; emulateapj forma
Oxygen and nitrogen abundances in Virgo and field spirals
The oxygen and nitrogen abundances in the HII regions of the nine Virgo
spirals of the sample from Skillman et al (1996) and in nine field spiral
galaxies are re-determined with the recently suggested P - method. We confirm
that there is an abundance segregation in the sample of Virgo spirals in the
sense that the HI deficient Virgo spirals near the core of the cluster have
higher oxygen abundances in comparison to the spirals at the periphery of the
Virgo cluster. At the same time both the Virgo periphery and core spirals have
counterparts among field spirals. We conclude that if there is a difference in
the abundance properties of the Virgo and field spirals, this difference
appears to be small and masked by the observational errors.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Propagation of ionizing radiation in HII regions: the effects of optically thick density fluctuations
The accepted explanation of the observed dichotomy of two orders of magnitude
between in situ measurements of electron density in HII regions, derived from
emission line ratios, and average measurements based on integrated emission
measure, is the inhomogeneity of the ionized medium. This is expressed as a
"filling factor", the volume ratio of dense to tenuous gas, measured with
values of order 10^-3. Implicit in the filling factor model as normally used,
is the assumption that the clumps of dense gas are optically thin to ionizing
radiation. Here we explore implications of assuming the contrary: that the
clumps are optically thick. A first consequence is the presence within HII
regions of a major fraction of neutral hydrogen. We estimate the mean H^o/H^+
ratio for a population of HII regions in the spiral galaxy NGC 1530 to be the
order of 10, and support this inference using dynamical arguments. The
optically thick clumpy models allow a significant fraction of the photons
generated by the ionizing stars to escape from their HII region. We show, by
comparing model predictions with observations, that these models give an
account at least as good as, and probably better than that of conventional
models, of the radial surface brightness distribution and of selected spectral
line diagnostics for physical conditions within HII regions. These models
explain how an HII region can appear, from its line ratios, to be ionization
bounded, yet permit a major fraction of its ionizing photons to escape.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures (2 of them in colours), accepted for publication
in A&
New southern blue compact dwarf galaxies in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
Aiming to find new extremely metal-deficient star-forming galaxies we
extracted from the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) 100K Data
Release 14 emission-line galaxies with relatively strong [OIII] 4363 emission.
Spectroscopic and photometric studies of this sample and, in addition, of 7
Tololo and 2 UM galaxies were performed on the basis of observations with the
ESO 3.6m telescope. All sample galaxies qualify with respect to their
photometric and spectroscopic properties as blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies.
Additionally, they show a good overlap with a comparison sample of 100
well-studied emission-line galaxies on the 12+log(O/H) vs. log(Ne/O), log(Ar/O)
and log(Fe/O) planes. From the analysis of the 2dFGRS subsample we report the
discovery of two new extremely metal-deficient BCDs with an oxygen abundance
12+log(O/H) < 7.6 and of another seven galaxies with 12+log(O/H) < 7.8.
Furthermore, we confirm previous oxygen abundance determinations for the BCDs
Tol 1304-353, Tol 2146-391, UM 559 and UM 570 to be 12+log(O/H) < 7.8.Comment: 26 pages, 65 figures, 5 tables, uses psfig.sty, Accepted for
publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The paper with high-resolution
figures can be downloaded at
http://www.uni-sw.gwdg.de/~papade/Publications/Papaderos2006_2dF.pd
Oxygen Abundances and Chemical Evolution in Low Surface Brightness Galaxies
We report the oxygen abundances of the HII regions of a sample of low surface
brightness (LSB) galaxies. We provide analytic functions describing the McGaugh
(1991) calibration of the R_23 method. We use this and the equivalent width
(EW) method to determine oxygen abundances, and also make direct estimates in a
few cases where the temperature sensitive [OIII] 4363 line is available. We
find LSB galaxies to be metal poor, consistent with the L-Z relation of other
galaxies. The large gas mass fractions of these objects provide an interesting
test of chemical evolution models. We find no obvious deviation from the
closed-box model of galactic chemical evolution. Based on our abundance and gas
mass fraction measurements, we infer that LSB galaxies are not fundamentally
different than other galaxy types but are perhaps at an early stage of
evolution.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures; Accepted for publication in MNRAS; High
resolution images at http://www.astro.umd.edu/~kuzio/PAPERS/abund.htm
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