7 research outputs found
Unveiling the Nature of the “Green Pea” Galaxies: Oxygen and Nitrogen Chemical Abundances
No full textWe present recent results on the oxygen and nitrogen chemical abundances in the extremely compact, low-mass starburst galaxies at redshifts 0.1–0.3 usually referred to as “green pea” galaxies. We show that they are metal-poor galaxies (~1/5 solar) with lower oxygen abundances than star-forming galaxies of similar mass and N/O ratios unusually high for galaxies of the same metallicity. Recent, rapid, and massive inflows of cold gas, possibly coupled with enriched outflows from supernova winds, are used to explain the results. This is consistent with the known “pea” galaxy properties and suggest that these rare objects are experiencing a short and extreme phase in their evolution
CLASSY V: The Impact of Aperture Effects on the Inferred Nebular Properties of Local Star-forming Galaxies
No full textStrong nebular emission lines are an important diagnostic tool for tracing the evolution of star-forming galaxies across cosmic time. However, different observational setups can affect these lines, and the derivation of the physical nebular properties. We analyze 12 local star-forming galaxies from the COS Legacy Spectroscopy SurveY (CLASSY) to assess the impact of using different aperture combinations on the determination of the physical conditions and gas-phase metallicity. We compare optical spectra observed with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release aperture, which has a 3″ diameter similar to COS, IFU, and long-slit spectra, including new LBT/MODS observations of five CLASSY galaxies. We calculate the reddening, electron densities and temperatures, metallicities, star formation rates, and equivalent widths (EWs). We find that measurements of the electron densities and temperatures, and metallicity remained roughly constant with aperture size, indicating that the gas conditions are relatively uniform for this sample. However, using IFU observations of three galaxies, we find that the E(B - V) values derived from the Balmer ratios decrease (by up to 53%) with increasing aperture size. The values change most significantly in the center of the galaxies, and level out near the COS aperture diameter of 2.″5. We examine the relative contributions from the gas and stars using the Hα and [O iii] λ5007 EWs as a function of aperture light fraction, but find little to no variations within a given galaxy. These results imply that the optical spectra provide nebular properties appropriate for the far-UV CLASSY spectra, even when narrow 1.″0 long-slit observations are used. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]
Hα and UV luminosities and star formation rates in a large sample of luminous compact galaxies
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