The Detection of [O III]$\lambda$4363 in a Lensed, Dwarf Galaxy at $z$ = 2.59: Testing Metallicity Indicators and Scaling Relations at High Redshift and Low Mass

Abstract

We present Keck/MOSFIRE and Keck/LRIS spectroscopy of A1689-217, a lensed (magnification $\sim 7.9$), star-forming (SFR $\sim$ 16 ${\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }\mathrm{y}{\mathrm{r}}^{-1}$), dwarf (log($M_{\ast }/M_{\odot }$) = $8.07-8.59$), Ly$\alpha$-emitter ($\mathrm{E}{\mathrm{W}}_0\sim 138$ A) at $z$ = 2.5918. Dwarf galaxies similar to A1689-217 are common at high redshift and likely responsible for reionization, yet few have been studied with detailed spectroscopy. We report a 4.2$\sigma$ detection of the electron-temperature-sensitive [O III]$\lambda$4363 emission line and use this line to directly measure an oxygen abundance of 12+$\log$(O/H) = 8.06 $\pm$ 0.12 ($\sim 1/4{\mathrm{Z}}_{\odot }$). A1689-217 is the lowest mass galaxy at $z>$ 2 with an [O III]$\lambda$4363 detection. Using the rest-optical emission lines, we measure A1689-217's other nebular conditions including electron temperature ($T_e$([O III]) $\sim$ 14,000 K), electron density ($n_e\sim$ 220 $\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$) and reddening ($E(B-V)\sim$ 0.39). We study relations between strong-line ratios and direct metallicities with A1689-217 and other galaxies with [O III]$\lambda$4363 detections at $z\sim 0-3.1$, showing that the locally-calibrated, oxygen-based, strong-line relations are consistent from $z\sim 0-3.1$. We also show additional evidence that the ${\mathrm{O}}_{32}$ vs. ${\mathrm{R}}_{23}$ excitation diagram can be utilized as a redshift-invariant, direct-metallicity-based, oxygen abundance diagnostic out to $z\sim$ 3.1. From this excitation diagram and the strong-line ratio $-$ metallicity plots, we observe that the ionization parameter at fixed O/H is consistent with no redshift evolution. Although A1689-217 is metal-rich for its $M_{\ast }$ and SFR, we find it to be consistent within the large scatter of the low-mass end of the Fundamental Metallicity Relation.

arXiv comment23 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix - v2: Revised manuscript submitted to ApJ (added discussion/comments/refs), Rest-frame EW of H$\alpha$ and [O III]$\lambda$5007 corrected (results unaffected)

References in corpus (83)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• The chemical composition of the Sun
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• Star Formation in Galaxies Along the Hubble Sequence
• The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Host Galaxies of AGN
• The Origin of the Mass--Metallicity Relation: Insights from 53,000 Star-Forming Galaxies in the SDSS
• Theoretical Modeling of Starburst Galaxies
• [O III]/[N II] as an Abundance Indicator at High Redshift
• A Simple Model for the Absorption of Starlight by Dust in Galaxies
• Galaxies on FIRE (Feedback In Realistic Environments): Stellar Feedback Explains Cosmologically Inefficient Star Formation
• Metallicity Calibrations and the Mass-Metallicity Relation for Star-Forming Galaxies
• A Quantitative Comparison of SMC, LMC, and Milky Way UV to NIR Extinction Curves
• Using Strong Lines to Estimate Abundances in Extragalactic HII Regions and Starburst Galaxies
• A fundamental relation between mass, SFR and metallicity in local and high redshift galaxies
• The Mass-Metallicity Relation at z~2
• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• AMAZE. I. The evolution of the mass-metallicity relation at z>3
• The Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Design, Observations, Data Reduction, and Redshifts
• De Re Metallica: The cosmic chemical evolution of galaxies
• Optimal Techniques in Two-dimensional Spectroscopy: Background Subtraction for the 21st Century
• The chemical composition of metal-poor emission-line galaxies in the Data Release 3 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Strong Nebular Line Ratios in the Spectra of z~2-3 Star-forming Galaxies: First Results from KBSS-MOSFIRE
• A Survey of Star-Forming Galaxies in the z=1.4-2.5 `Redshift Desert': Overview
• The Mass-Metallicity Relation with the Direct Method on Stacked Spectra of SDSS Galaxies
• Comparison of H-alpha and UV Star Formation Rates in the Local Volume: Systematic Discrepancies for Dwarf Galaxies
• Science Objectives and Early Results of the DEEP2 Redshift Survey
• The Spitzer Local Volume Legacy: Survey Description and Infrared Photometry
• An H-alpha Imaging Survey of Galaxies in the Local 11 Mpc Volume
• New light on the search for low metallicity galaxies I. The N2 method
• Theoretical Evolution of Optical Strong Lines across Cosmic Time
• The MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) Survey: Rest-Frame Optical Spectroscopy for ~1500 H-Selected Galaxies at 1.37 < z < 3.8
• The Origin and Evolution of the Galaxy Mass-Metallicity Relation
• A fundamental plane for field star-forming galaxies
• Direct Oxygen Abundances for Low Luminosity LVL Galaxies
• Ionization State of Inter-Stellar Medium in Galaxies: Evolution, SFR-M_star-Z Dependence, and Ionizing Photon Escape
• Strong Lensing Analysis of A1689 from Deep Advanced Camera Images
• Spectral synthesis including massive binaries
• The MOSDEF Survey: Electron Density and Ionization Parameter at $z\sim 2.3$
• New Strong Line Abundance Diagnostics for \HII Regions: Effects of $\kappa$-Distributed Electron Energies and New Atomic Data
• Nebular Emission Line Ratios in z~2-3 Star-Forming Galaxies with KBSS-MOSFIRE: Exploring the Impact of Ionization, Excitation, and Nitrogen-to-Oxygen Ratio
• The MOSDEF Survey: Mass, Metallicity, and Star-formation Rate at z~2.3
• Metallicity evolution, metallicity gradients and gas fractions at z~3.4
• New insights into the stellar content and physical conditions of star-forming galaxies at z = 2-3 from spectral modelling
• The MOSDEF Survey: Excitation Properties of $z\sim 2.3$ Star-forming Galaxies
• The HDUV Survey: A Revised Assessment of the Relationship between UV Slope and Dust Attenuation for High-Redshift Galaxies
• Very Strong Emission-Line Galaxies in the WISP Survey and Implications for High-Redshift Galaxies
• Modeling the Effects of Star Formation Histories on Halpha and Ultra-Violet Fluxes in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies
• Physical Properties of Emission-Line Galaxies at z ~ 2 from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with Magellan FIRE
• The metallicity of the long GRB hosts and the Fundamental Metallicity Relation of low-mass galaxies
• The Chemical Evolution of Star-Forming Galaxies Over the Last 11 Billion Years
• MMT/MMIRS spectroscopy of $z=1.3-2.4$ extreme [OIII] emitters: Implications for galaxies in the reionization-era
• The Subaru Deep Field: The Optical Imaging Data
• Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in CANDELS: Broad-Band Selected, Star-Bursting Dwarf Galaxies at z>1
• Ultra-faint Ultraviolet Galaxies at z~2 Behind the Lensing Cluster Abell 1689: the Luminosity Function, Dust Extinction and Star Formation Rate Density
• ISM excitation and metallicity of star-forming galaxies at z~3.3 from near-IR spectroscopy
• "Direct" Gas-Phase Metallicity in Local Analogs of High-Redshift Galaxies: Empirical Metallicity Calibrations for High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies
• The FMOS-COSMOS survey of star-forming galaxies at z~1.6. IV: Excitation state and chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium
• A Window On The Earliest Star Formation: Extreme Photoionization Conditions of a High-Ionization, Low-Metallicity Lensed Galaxy at z~2
• Measuring the Physical Conditions in High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies: Insights from KBSS-MOSFIRE
• Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies at 2<z<3.5: Direct Abundance Measurements of Lya Emitters
• Low Masses and High Redshifts: The Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity Relation
• A Closer look at Bursty Star Formation with $L_{H\alpha }$ and $L_{UV}$ Distributions
• First Spectroscopic Evidence for High Ionization State and Low Oxygen Abundance in Lya Emitters
• The Nature of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies at z=1-2: Kinematics and Metallicities from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
• The CASSOWARY spectroscopy survey: A new sample of gravitationally lensed galaxies in SDSS
• Synthetic nebular emission from massive galaxies I: origin of the cosmic evolution of optical emission-line ratios
• The Evolution Of The Faint End Of The UV Luminosity Function During The Peak Epoch Of Star Formation (1<z<3)
• Stars were born in significantly denser regions in the early Universe
• Temperature-based metallicity measurements at z=0.8: direct calibration of strong-line diagnostics at intermediate redshift
• Testing metallicity indicators at z~1.4 with the gravitationally lensed galaxy CASSOWARY 20
• 3D-HST Grism Spectroscopy of a Gravitationally Lensed, Low-metallicity Starburst Galaxy at z=1.847
• "Direct" Gas-phase Metallicities, Stellar Properties, and Local Environments of Emission-line Galaxies at Redshift below 0.90
• The MOSDEF Survey: Detection of [OIII]$\lambda$4363 and the direct-method oxygen abundance of a star-forming galaxy at z=3.08
• A rise in the ionizing photons in star-forming galaxies over the past 5 billion years
• Hubble Space Telescope Grism Spectroscopy of Extreme Starbursts Across Cosmic Time: The Role of Dwarf Galaxies in the Star Formation History of the Universe
• First direct metallicity measurement of a lensed star-forming galaxy at z=1.7
• Metal-poor, Strongly Star-Forming Galaxies in the DEEP2 Survey: The Relationship between Stellar Mass, Temperature-based Metallicity, and Star Formation Rate
• Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 Early Release Science: Emission-Line Galaxies from Infrared Grism Observations
• Testing strong line metallicity diagnostics at z~2
• Changing physical conditions in star-forming galaxies between redshifts 0 < z < 4: [OIII]/Hb evolution

Cited by in corpus (12)

• The Mass-Metallicity Relation at z=8: Direct-Method Metallicity Constraints and Near-Future Prospects
• Chemical abundances of Seyfert 2 AGNs-III. Reducing the oxygen abundance discrepancy
• The Ionizing Photon Production Efficiency (${\xi }_{ion}$) Of Lensed Dwarf Galaxies At $z\sim 2$
• The mass-metallicity relation at z~1-2 and its dependence on star formation rate
• A Preview of JWST Metallicity Studies at Cosmic Noon: The First Detection of Auroral [O II] Emission at High Redshift
• The BPT Diagram in Cosmological Galaxy Formation Simulations: Understanding the Physics Driving Offsets at High-Redshift
• VLT/XShooter spectroscopy of Lyman Break Analogs: direct method O/H abundances and nitrogen enhancements
• Electron temperature fluctuations in Seyfert galaxies
• Towards Studying Hierarchical Assembly in Real Time: A Milky Way Progenitor Galaxy at z = 2.36 under the Microscope
• The Direct-Method Oxygen Abundance of Typical Dwarf Galaxies at Cosmic High-Noon
• Disentangling the physical origin of emission line ratio offsets at high redshift with spatially resolved spectroscopy
• CECILIA: Ultra-Deep Rest-Optical Spectra of Faint Galaxies at Cosmic Noon