Oxygen abundance in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

F. Shi; X. Kong; F. Z. Cheng

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20054524

paper

Oxygen abundance in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

arXiv:astro-ph/0603255 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20054524

Abstract

We present two samples of $\hii$ galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic observations data release 3. The electron temperatures( $T_{e}$ ) of 225 galaxies are calculated with the photoionized $\hii$ model and $T_{e}$ of 3997 galaxies are calculated with an empirical method. The oxygen abundances from the $T_{e}$ methods of the two samples are determined reliably. The oxygen abundances from a strong line metallicity indicator, such as $R_{23}$ , $P$ , $N 2$ , and $O 3 N 2$ , are also calculated. We compared oxygen abundances of $\hii$ galaxies obtained with the $T_{e}$ method, $R_{23}$ method, $P$ method, $N 2$ method, and $O 3 N 2$ method. The oxygen abundances derived with the $T_{e}$ method are systematically lower by $\sim$ 0.2 dex than those derived with the $R_{23}$ method, consistent with previous studies based on $\hii$ region samples. No clear offset for oxygen abundance was found between $T_{e}$ metallicity and $P$ , $N 2$ and $O 3 N 2$ metallicity. When we studied the relation between N/O and O/H, we found that in the metallicity regime of $\zoh > 7.95$, the large scatter of the relation can be explained by the contribution of small mass stars to the production of nitrogen. In the high metallicity regime, $\zoh > 8.2$, nitrogen is primarily a secondary element produced by stars of all masses.

arXiv comment7 pages, 3 figures. A&A accepted

Oxygen abundance in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Abstract

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