Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2012-01-07
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
We have compared the oxygen and nitrogen abundances derived from global emission-line SDSS spectra of galaxies using (1) the Te method and (2) two recent strong line calibrations: the ON and NS calibrations. Using the Te method, anomously high N/O abundances ratios have been found in some SDSS galaxies. To investigate this, we have Monte Carlo simulated the global spectra of composite nebulae by a mix of spectra of individual components, based on spectra of well-studied HII regions in nearby galaxies. We found that the Te method results in an underestimated oxygen abundance (and hence in an overestimated nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio) if HII regions with different physical properties contribute to the global spectrum of composite nebulae. This effect is somewhat similar to the small-scale temperature fluctuations in HII regions discussed by Peimbert. Our work thus suggests that the high Te-based N/O abundances ratios found in SDSS galaxies may not be real. However, such an effect is not expected to be present in dwarf galaxies since they have generally an uniform chemical composition. The ON and NS calibrations give O and N abundances in composite nebulae which agree with the mean luminosity-weighted abundances of their components to within 0.2 dex.
Mattsson Lars
Pilyugin Leonid S.
Thuan Trinh Xuan
Vilchez José M.
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