Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Nov 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011hsa6.conf..373a&link_type=abstract
Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VI, Proceedings of the IX Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA), held
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
We will present recent investigations about the oxygen and nitrogen chemical abundances in extremely compact star-forming galaxies (SFGs) with redshifts between ˜ 0.11 and 0.35, popularly referred to as "green pea" (GPs) galaxies (Amorín et al., 2010, ApJ, 715, L128). Direct and strong-line methods sensitive to the N/O ratio applied to theirSloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra reveal that these systems aregenuine metal-poor galaxies, with mean oxygen abundances ˜ 20%solar. At a given metallicity these galaxies display systematicallylarge N/O ratios compared to normal galaxies, which can explain thestrong difference between our metallicities measurements and theprevious ones. While their N/O ratios follow the relation with stellarmass of local SFGs in the SDSS, we find that the mass-metallicityrelation of the GPs is offset more than 0.3 dex to lowermetallicities. We argue that recent interaction-induced inflow of gas,possibly coupled with a selective metal-rich gas loss, driven bysupernova winds, may explain our findings and the known galaxyproperties, namely high specific star formation rates, extremecompactness, and disturbed optical morphologies. The "green pea"galaxy properties seem to be uncommon in the nearby universe,suggesting a short and extreme stage of their evolution. Therefore,these galaxies may allow us to study in great detail many processes,such as starburst activity and chemical enrichment, under physicalconditions approaching those in galaxies at higher redshifts.
Amorín Ricardo O.
Pérez-Montero Enrique
Vilchez José M.
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