Direct Oxygen Abundances for the Lowest Luminosity LVL Galaxies

Details Direct Oxygen Abundances for the Lowest Luminosity LVL Galaxies Direct Oxygen Abundances for the Lowest Luminosity LVL Galaxies

Jan 2012

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21924415b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #244.15

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present new MMT spectroscopic observations of HII regions in 42 of the lowest luminosity galaxies in the Spitzer Local Volume Legacy (LVL) survey. For 31 of the galaxies in our sample we were able to measure the [OIII] ? auroral line at a strength of 4σ or greater, and thus determine oxygen abundances using the direct method. Direct oxygen abundances were compared to B-band luminosity, 4.5 μm luminosity, and stellar mass to characterize the luminosity-metallicity (L-Z) and mass-metallicity (M-Z) relationships at low-luminosity.
We examined a "Combined Select” sample composed of 38 objects, from the present sample and the literature, with direct oxygen abundances and reliable distance determinations (based on the tip of the red giant branch or Cepheid variables). The B-band and 4.5 μm L-Z relationships were found to be 12+log(O/H) = (6.19±0.07) + (-0.12±0.01)MB and 12+log(O/H) = (5.93±0.11) + (-0.11±0.01)M[4.5] with dispersions of σ = 0.17 and σ = 0.14 respectively. Since the slope of the L-Z relationship doesn't seem to vary from the optical to the near-IR, as has been observed in studies of more luminous galaxies, we propose that less extinction due to dust is created in the lowest luminosity galaxies. We subsequently derived a M-Z relationship of 12+log(O/H) = (5.49±0.23) + (0.31±0.03)log M*, with a dispersion of σ = 0.16. None of the relationships seem to hold an advantage with respect to dispersion, supporting the idea of minimized dust.
Additionally, the trend of N/O abundance with respect to B-V color and oxygen abundance was examined. Similar to the conclusions of van Zee & Haynes (2006), we find a positive correlation between N/O ratio and B-V color: log(N/O) = 0.92 (B-V) - 1.83. Furthermore, there are no objects with high N/O ratio below 12+log(O/H)=7.9.

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