Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003apj...599.1031k&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 599, Issue 2, pp. 1031-1042.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
37
Galaxies: Abundances, Galaxies: Evolution, Galaxies: Fundamental Parameters, Galaxies: Starburst, Ism: H Ii Regions, Ism: Abundances
Scientific paper
We develop a prescription for estimating the interstellar medium oxygen abundances of distant star-forming galaxies using the ratio EW R23 formed from the equivalent widths of the [O II] λ3727, [O III] λλ4959, 5007, and Hβ nebular emission lines. This EW R23 approach is essentially identical to the widely used R23 method of Pagel and coworkers. Using data from three spectroscopic surveys of nearby galaxies, we conclude that the emission-line equivalent-width ratios are a good substitute for emission-line flux ratios in galaxies with active star formation. The rms dispersion between EW R23 and the reddening-corrected R23 values is σ(logR23)<=0.08 dex. This dispersion is comparable to the emission-line measurement uncertainties for distant galaxies in many spectroscopic galaxy surveys, and is somewhat smaller than the uncertainties of σ(O/H)~0.15 dex inherent in strong-line metallicity calibrations. Because equivalent-width ratios are partially insensitive to interstellar reddening effects, emission-line equivalent-width ratios should be superior to flux ratios when reddening corrections are not available. The EW R23 method presented here is likely to be most useful for statistically estimating the mean metallicities for large samples of galaxies to trace their chemical properties as a function of redshift or environment. The approach developed here is used in a companion paper by Kobulnicky and coworkers to measure the metallicities of star-forming galaxies at z=0.2-0.8 in the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe spectroscopic survey of the Groth strip.
Kobulnicky Henry A.
Phillips Andrew C.
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