SDSS-IV MaNGA: Variations in the N/O -- O/H relation bias metallicity gradient measurements

Autor: Schaefer, Adam L., Tremonti, Christy, Belfiore, Francesco, Pace, Zachary, Bershady, Matthew A., Andrews, Brett H., Drory, Niv
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab6f06
Popis: In this paper we use strong line calibrations of N/O and O/H in MaNGA spaxel data to explore the systematics introduced by variations in N/O on various strong-line metallicity diagnostics. We find radial variations in N/O at fixed O/H which correlate with total galaxy stellar-mass; and which can induce $\sim 40 \%$ systematic uncertainties in oxygen abundance gradients when nitrogen-dependent abundance calibrations are used. Empirically, we find that these differences are associated with variation in the local star formation efficiency, as predicted by recent chemical evolution models for galaxies, but we cannot rule out other processes such as radial migration and the accretion of passive dwarf galaxies also playing a role.
Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to ApJL. All comments are welcome
Databáze: arXiv