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New fully empirical calibrations of strong-line metallicity indicators in star-forming galaxies

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Article

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Authors

Cresci, G 
Mannucci, F 
Marconi, A 

Abstract

We derive new empirical calibrations for strong-line diagnostics of gas-phase metallicity in local star-forming galaxies by uniformly applying the Te method over the full metallicity range probed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To measure electron temperatures at high metallicity, where the auroral lines needed are not detected in single galaxies, we stacked spectra of more than 110 000 galaxies from the SDSS in bins of log[O ii]/Hβ and log[O iii]/Hβ. This stacking scheme does not assume any dependence of metallicity on mass or star formation rate, but only that galaxies with the same line ratios have the same oxygen abundance. We provide calibrations which span more than 1 dex in metallicity and are entirely defined on a consistent absolute Te metallicity scale for galaxies. We apply our calibrations to the SDSS sample and find that they provide consistent metallicity estimates to within 0.05 dex.

Description

Keywords

ISM: abundances, galaxies: abundances, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: ISM

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0035-8711
1365-2966

Volume Title

465

Publisher

Oxford University Press
Sponsorship
European Research Council (695671)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/K003119/1)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/M001172/1)
MC acknowledges financial support from INAF for his PhD fellowship. RM acknowledges support from the ERC Advanced Grant 695671 "QUENCH'' and support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS Web Site is http://www.sdss.org/.