Emission Line Abundances of Absorption Selected Galaxies at z<0.5

Abstract

We have obtained optical spectra of four galaxies associated with MgII QSO absorbers at redshifts 0.10 < z < 0.45. We calculate the gas-phase oxygen abundance of these galaxies using the empirical R23 strong line method. The absolute B-band magnitudes of the galaxies span -20.6 < M_B < -18.3. If the metallicities lie on the R23 upper branch (8.4 < log (O/H) + 12 < 8.9), then the metallicities of these absorption selected galaxies span the range between 0.5--1.4 solar and would be consistent with the well-known luminosity-metallicity relation for 0.10 < z < 0.45 emission-line galaxies. However, such metallicities would be 0.5--1.0 dex higher than those observed in damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) via absorption line measurements at similar redshifts. Conversely, the lower R23 branch calibration yields metallicities approximately 1/7 solar, consistent with the DLA absorption metallicities at low redshifts. In this case, the absorption selected galaxies would lie significantly lower than the luminosity-metallicity relation for emission-line galaxies at z<0.5. We discuss the implications and possible solutions for each scenario.

arXiv commentAccepted for publications in MNRAS

References in corpus (54)

• Using Strong Lines to Estimate Abundances in Extragalactic HII Regions and Starburst Galaxies
• The Rest Frame Optical Spectra of Lyman Break Galaxies: Star Formation, Extinction, Abundances, and Kinematics
• Metallicities of 0.3<z<1.0 Galaxies in the GOODS-North Field
• A Survey of Star-Forming Galaxies in the z=1.4-2.5 `Redshift Desert': Overview
• The Evolution of the Global Stellar Mass Density at 0 < z < 3
• The Composition Gradient in M101 Revisited. II. Electron Temperatures and Implications for the Nebular Abundance Scale
• New Observations of the Interstellar Medium in the Lyman Break Galaxy MS 1512-cB58
• The Rest-Frame UV Luminosity Density of Star-Forming Galaxies at Redshifts z>3.5
• The Metal Content of Dwarf Starburst Winds: Results from Chandra Observations of NGC 1569
• On Measuring Chemical Abundances in Distant Galaxies Using Global Emission Line Spectra
• The Metallicity of High Redshift Galaxies: The Abundance of Zinc in 34 Damped Lyman Alpha Systems from z = 0.7 to 3.4
• The Age-Metallicity Relation of the Universe in Neutral Gas: The First 100 Damped Lya Systems
• A Redshift z = 6.56 Galaxy Behind the Cluster Abell 370
• The Rest-Frame Optical Luminosity Density, Color, and Stellar Mass Density of the Universe from z=0 to z=3
• Discovery of Damped Lyman-Alpha Systems at Redshifts Less Than 1.65 and Results on their Incidence and Cosmological Mass Density
• Evolution of the Galaxy Population Based on Photometric Redshifts in the Hubble Deep Field
• Metal Abundances at z < 1.5: Fresh Clues to the Chemical Enrichment History of Damped Lyman alpha Systems
• Color-selected galaxies at z~6 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey
• The Extreme Outer Regions of Disk Galaxies: I. Chemical Abundances of HII Regions
• The UCSD HIRES/KeckI Damped Lya Abundance Database: II. The Implications
• The CORALS Survey I: New Estimates of the Number Density and Gas Content of Damped Lyman Alpha Systems Free from Dust Bias
• The Luminosity-Metallicity relation in the local universe from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
• Lyman Break Galaxies and the Star Formation Rate of the Universe at z~6
• Abundances of Deuterium, Oxygen, and Nitrogen in the Local Interstellar Medium: Overview of First Results from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Mission
• A census of metals at high and low redshifts and the connection between submillimetre sources and spheroid formation
• Si and Mn Abundances in Damped Lya Systems with Low Dust Content
• The line-of-sight towards GRB 030429 at z = 2.66: Probing the matter at stellar, galactic and intergalactic scales
• The matallicities of star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts 0.47 < z < 0.92
• Low-Redshift Damped Lyman Alpha Galaxies Toward the Quasars B2 0827+243, PKS 0952+179, PKS 1127-145, and PKS 1629+120
• Chemical Properties of Star-Forming Emission Line Galaxies at z=0.1 - 0.5
• The Nature of Damped Ly-alpha Absorbing Galaxies at z<=1--A Photometric Redshift Survey of Damped Ly-alpha Absorbers
• A Homogeneous Sample of Sub-DLAs II: Statistical, Kinematic and Chemical Properties
• CII* Absorption in Damped Lyman Alpha Systems: (II) A New Window on the Star Formation History of the Universe
• [O II] as a tracer of current star formation
• The DEEP Groth Strip Survey VII: The Metallicity of Field Galaxies at 0.26<z<0.82 and the Evolution of the Luminosity-Metallicity Relation
• Dust depletion and abundance pattern in damped Lyman-alpha systems: a sample of Mn and Ti abundances at z<2.2
• Star formation rate and metallicity of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers in cosmological SPH simulations
• The Sizes and Kinematic Structure of Absorption Systems Towards the Lensed Quasar APM08279+5255
• Metals and Dust in Intermediate-redshift Damped Ly-alpha Galaxies
• Abundances in the Neutral Interstellar Medium of I Zw 18 from FUSE Observations
• Metallicity Evolution of Damped Lyman-Alpha Galaxies
• Measurement of [OIII] Emission in Lyman Break Galaxies
• Discovery of a z = 6.17 galaxy from CFHT and VLT observations
• The Number Density of 0.6 < z < 1.7 MgII Systems from CORALS: Observational Biases at Intermediate Redshift
• FUSE observations of the HI interstellar gas of IZw18
• The metallicity-luminosity relation at medium redshift based on faint CADIS emission line galaxies
• Damped Lyman Alpha Gas Metallicities at Redshifts z=0.9-2.0 from SDSS Spectra
• The Star Clusters in the Irregular Galaxy NGC 4449
• Abundance differences between the neutral and the ionized gas of the dwarf galaxy IZw 36
• Chemical evolution and depletion pattern in Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems
• The HII Regions of the Damped Lyman alpha Absorber SBS 1543+593
• The Chemical Evolution of the Universe I: High Column Density Absorbers
• Abundances and kinematics of a candidate sub-damped Lyman-alpha galaxy toward PHL 1226
• Dust obscuration studies along quasar sight lines using simulated galaxies

Cited by in corpus (32)

• The Gemini Deep Deep Survey. VII. The Redshift Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity Relation
• Measured Metallicities at the Sites of Nearby Broad-Lined Type Ic Supernovae and Implications for the SN-GRB Connection
• A census of metals and baryons in stars in the local Universe
• SN 2009jf: a slow-evolving stripped-envelope core-collapse supernova
• Zn and Cr abundances in damped Lyman alpha systems from the CORALS survey
• A SINFONI Integral Field Spectroscopy Survey for Galaxy Counterparts to Damped Lyman-alpha Systems - I. New Detections and Limits for Intervening and Associated Absorbers
• The Enrichment History of Baryons in the Universe
• The Role of Sub-damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers in the Cosmic Evolution of Metals
• The Optical - Infrared Colors of CORALS QSOs: Searching for Dust Reddening Associated With High Redshift Damped Lyman Alpha Systems
• The metals-to-dust ratio to very low metallicities using GRB and QSO absorbers; extremely rapid dust formation
• Interstellar Gas-phase Element Depletions in the Small Magellanic Cloud: A Guide to Correcting for Dust in QSO Absorption Line Systems
• Metal-rich Damped/sub-Damped Lyman-alpha Quasar Absorbers at z<1
• Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Sub-Damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers at z < 0.5, and Implications for Galaxy Chemical Evolution
• Galaxy Clusters in the Line of Sight to Background Quasars: I. Survey Design and Incidence of MgII Absorbers at Cluster Redshifts
• The nature of damped Lyman alpha and sub-damped Lyman alpha absorbers
• A Comparison of Absorption and Emission Line Abundances in the Nearby Damped Lyman-alpha Galaxy SBS 1543+593
• Do Damped and Sub-damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers Arise in Galaxies of Different Masses?
• Metal Abundances in a Damped Lyman-alpha System Along Two Lines of Sight at z=0.93
• Coincident, 100 kpc-scale damped Lyman alpha absorption towards a binary QSO: how large are galaxies at z ~ 3?
• Emission-line spectroscopy of Damped Lyman Alpha Systems: The case of SBS 1543+593/HS 1543+5921
• The host galaxies of strong CaII QSO absorption systems at z<0.5
• Ionization corrections in a multi-phase interstellar medium: Lessons from a z~2 sub-DLA
• A Lyman limit system associated with galactic winds
• The Magellanic Bridge as a DLA System: Physical Properties of Cold Gas toward PKS0312-770
• The metallicities of luminous, massive field galaxies at intermediate redshifts
• Super-Solar Metallicity in Weak Mg II Absorption Systems at z ~ 1.7
• SOAR Imaging of sub-Damped Lyman-Alpha Systems at z<1
• Galaxy Clusters in the Line of Sight to Background Quasars: II. Environmental effects on the sizes of baryonic halo sizes
• Magellan LDSS3 emission confirmation of galaxies hosting metal-rich Lyman-alpha absorption systems
• A novel approach to investigate chemical inhomogeneities in GRB host galaxies: The $Z_{\mathrm{abs}}-Z_{\mathrm{emiss}}$ relation
• Exploring galaxy dark matter halos across redshifts with strong quasar absorbers
• A Long-term photometric variability and spectroscopic study of luminous blue variable AF And in M31