scholarly journals Chemical abundances of Seyfert 2 AGNs – I. Comparing oxygen abundances from distinct methods using SDSS

2019 ◽  
Vol 492 (1) ◽  
pp. 468-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
O L Dors ◽  
P Freitas-Lemes ◽  
E B Amôres ◽  
E Pérez-Montero ◽  
M V Cardaci ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We compare the oxygen abundance (O/H) of the narrow-line regions (NLRs) of Seyfert 2 AGNs obtained through strong-line methods and from direct measurements of the electron temperature (Te-method). The aim of this study is to explore the effects of the use of distinct methods on the range of metallicity and on the mass–metallicity relation of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at low redshifts (z ≲ 0.4). We used the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) to selected optical (3000 < λ(Å) < 7000) emission line intensities of 463 confirmed Seyfert 2 AGNs. The oxygen abundances of the NLRs were estimated using the theoretical Storchi-Bergmann et al. calibrations, the semi-empirical N2O2 calibration, the Bayesian H  ii-Chi-mistry code and the Te-method. We found that the oxygen abundance estimations via the strong-line methods differ from each other up to ∼0.8 dex, with the largest discrepancies in the low-metallicity regime ($\rm 12+\log (O/H) \: \lesssim \: 8.5$). We confirmed that the Te-method underestimates the oxygen abundance in NLRs, producing unreal subsolar values. We did not find any correlation between the stellar mass of the host galaxies and the metallicity of their AGNs. This result is independent of the method used to estimate Z.

2019 ◽  
Vol 623 ◽  
pp. A40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. I. Izotov ◽  
N. G. Guseva ◽  
K. J. Fricke ◽  
C. Henkel

We present a sample of low-redshift (z <  0.133) candidates for extremely low-metallicity star-forming galaxies with oxygen abundances 12 + log O/H <  7.4 selected from the Data Release 14 (DR14) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Three methods are used to derive their oxygen abundances. Among these methods two are based on strong [O II]λ3727 Å, [O III]λ4959 Å, and [O III]λ5007 Å emission lines, which we call strong-line and semi-empirical methods. These were applied for all galaxies. We have developed one of these methods, the strong-line method, in this paper. This method is specifically focused on the accurate determination of metallicity in extremely low-metallicity galaxies and may not be used at higher metallicities with 12 + log O/H ≳ 7.5. The third, the direct Te method, was applied for galaxies with detected [O III]λ4363 emission lines. All three methods give consistent abundances and can be used in combination or separately for selection of lowest-metallicity candidates. However, the strong-line method is preferable for spectra with a poorly detected or undetected [O III]λ4363 emission line. In total, our list of selected candidates for extremely low-metallicity galaxies includes 66 objects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 492 (4) ◽  
pp. 5675-5683 ◽  
Author(s):  
S P Carvalho ◽  
O L Dors ◽  
M V Cardaci ◽  
G F Hägele ◽  
A C Krabbe ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a semi-empirical calibration between the metallicity (Z) of Seyfert 2 active galactic nuclei and the N2 = log([N ii]λ6584/H α) emission-line intensity ratio. This calibration was derived through the [O iii]λ5007/[O ii]λ3727 versus N2 diagram containing observational data and photoionization model results obtained with the cloudy code. The observational sample consists of 463 confirmed Seyfert 2 nuclei (redshift $z \: \lesssim 0.4$) taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 data set. The obtained Z–N2 relation is valid for the range $0.3 \: \lesssim \: (Z/{\rm Z}_{\odot }) \: \lesssim \: 2.0$ that corresponds to $-0.7 \: \lesssim \: ({\rm N}2) \: \lesssim \: 0.6$. The effects of varying the ionization parameter (U), electron density and the slope of the spectral energy distribution on the Z estimations are of the order of the uncertainty produced by the error measurements of N2. This result indicates the large reliability of our Z –N2 calibration. A relation between U and the [O iii]/[O ii] line ratio, almost independent of other nebular parameter, was obtained.


Author(s):  
A F Monteiro ◽  
O L Dors

Abstract For the first time, the argon abundance relative to hydrogen abundance (Ar/H) in the narrow line region of a sample of Seyfert 2 nuclei has been derived. In view of this, optical narrow emission line intensities of a sample of 64 local Seyfert 2 nuclei (z &lt; 0.25) taken from Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 and measured by the MPA/JHU group were considered. We adopted the Te-method for AGNs, which is based on direct determination of the electron temperature, together with a grid of photoionization model results, built with the Cloudy code, to obtain a method for the derivation of the Ar/H abundance. We find that for a metallicity range of $\rm 0.2 \: \lesssim \: (Z/{\rm Z_{\odot }}) \: \lesssim \: 2.0$, Seyfert 2 nuclei present Ar/H abundance ranging from ∼0.1 to ∼3 times the argon solar value, adopting $\rm log(O/H)_{\odot }=-3.31$ and $\rm log(Ar/H)_{\odot }=-5.60$. These range of values correspond to $\rm 8.0 \: \lesssim \: (12+log(O/H) \: \lesssim \: 9.0$ and $\rm 5.4 \: \lesssim \: (12+log(Ar/H) \: \lesssim \: 6.9$, respectively. The range of Ar/H and Ar/O abundance values obtained from our sample are in consonance with estimations from extrapolations of the radial abundance gradients to the central parts of the disk for four spiral galaxies. We combined our abundance results with estimates obtained from a sample of H ii galaxies, which were taken from the literature, and found that the Ar/O abundance ratio decreases slightly as the O/H abundance increases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 624 ◽  
pp. A21 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. G. Guseva ◽  
Y. I. Izotov ◽  
K. J. Fricke ◽  
C. Henkel

A large sample of Mg II emitting star-forming galaxies with low metallicity [O/H] = log(O/H) – log(O/H)⊙ between –0.2 and –1.2 dex is constructed from Data Release 14 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We selected 4189 galaxies with Mg II λ2797, λ2803 emission lines in the redshift range z ∼ 0.3–1.0 or 35% of the total Sloan Digital Sky Survey star-forming sample with redshift z ≥ 0.3. We study the dependence of the magnesium-to-oxygen and magnesium-to-neon abundance ratios on metallicity. Extrapolating this dependence to [Mg/Ne] = 0 and to solar metallicity we derive a magnesium depletion of [Mg/Ne] ≃ –0.4 (at solar metallicity). We prefer neon instead of oxygen to evaluate the magnesium depletion in the interstellar medium because neon is a noble gas and is not incorporated into dust, contrary to oxygen. Thus, we find that more massive and more metal abundant galaxies have higher magnesium depletion. The global parameters of our sample, such as the mass of the stellar population and star formation rate, are compared with previously obtained results from the literature. These results confirm that Mg II emission has a nebular origin. Our data for interstellar magnesium-to-oxygen abundance ratios relative to the solar value are in good agreement with similar measurements made for Galactic stars, for giant stars in the Milky Way satellite dwarf galaxies, and with low-metallicity damped Lyman-alpha systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 492 (4) ◽  
pp. 5297-5312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliab Malefahlo ◽  
Mario G Santos ◽  
Matt J Jarvis ◽  
Sarah V White ◽  
Jonathan T L Zwart

ABSTRACT We present the radio luminosity function (RLF) of optically selected quasars below 1 mJy, constructed by applying a Bayesian-fitting stacking technique to objects well below the nominal radio flux density limit. We test the technique using simulated data, confirming that we can reconstruct the RLF over three orders of magnitude below the typical 5σ detection threshold. We apply our method to 1.4-GHz flux densities from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST) survey, extracted at the positions of optical quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey over seven redshift bins up to z = 2.15, and measure the RLF down to two orders of magnitude below the FIRST detection threshold. In the lowest redshift bin (0.2 &lt; z &lt; 0.45), we find that our measured RLF agrees well with deeper data from the literature. The RLF for the radio-loud quasars flattens below $\log _{10}[L_{1.4}/{\rm W\, Hz}^{-1}] \approx 25.5$ and becomes steeper again below $\log _{10}[L_{1.4}/{\rm W\, Hz}^{-1}] \approx 24.8$, where radio-quiet quasars start to emerge. The radio luminosity where radio-quiet quasars emerge coincides with the luminosity where star-forming galaxies are expected to start dominating the radio source counts. This implies that there could be a significant contribution from star formation in the host galaxies, but additional data are required to investigate this further. The higher redshift bins show a similar behaviour to the lowest z bin, implying that the same physical process may be responsible.


2019 ◽  
Vol 631 ◽  
pp. A132 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Molyneux ◽  
C. M. Harrison ◽  
M. E. Jarvis

Using a sample of 2922 z <  0.2, spectroscopically identified active galactic nuclei (AGN), we explore the relationship between radio size and the prevalence of extreme ionised outflows, as traced using broad [O III] emission-line profiles in spectra obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To classify radio sources as compact or extended, we combined a machine-learning technique for morphological classification with size measurements from two-dimensional Gaussian models to data from all-sky radio surveys. We find that the two populations have statistically different [O III] emission-line profiles; the compact sources tend to have the most extreme gas kinematics. When the radio emission is confined within 3″ (i.e. within the spectroscopic fibre or ≲5 kpc at the median redshift), the chance of observing broad [O III] emission-line components, which are indicative of very high velocity outflows and have a full width at half-maximum > 1000 km s−1, is twice as high. This difference is greatest for the highest radio luminosity bin of log[L1.4 GHz/W Hz−1] = 23.5−24.5 where the AGN dominate the radio emission; specifically, > 1000 km s−1 components are almost four times as likely to occur when the radio emission is compact in this subsample. Our follow-up ≈0.3″–1″ resolution radio observations for a subset of targets in this luminosity range reveal that radio jets and lobes are prevalent, and suggest that compact jets might be responsible for the stronger outflows in the wider sample. Our results are limited by the available relatively shallow all-sky radio surveys, but forthcoming surveys will provide a more complete picture of the connection between radio emission and outflows. Overall, our results add to the growing body of evidence that ionised outflows and compact radio emission in highly accreting “radiative” AGN are closely connected, possibly as a result of young or weak radio jets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 626 ◽  
pp. A8 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Missaglia ◽  
F. Massaro ◽  
A. Capetti ◽  
M. Paolillo ◽  
R. P. Kraft ◽  
...  

We present a catalog of 47 wide-angle tailed radio galaxies (WATs), the WATCAT, mainly built including a radio morphological classification; WATs were selected by combining observations from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory/Very Large Array Sky Survey (NVSS), the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST), and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We included in the catalog only radio sources showing two-sided jets with two clear “warmspots” (i.e., jet knots as bright as 20% of the nucleus) lying on the opposite side of the radio core, and having classical extended emission resembling a plume beyond them. The catalog is limited to redshifts z ≤ 0.15, and lists only sources with radio emission extended beyond 30 kpc from the host galaxy. We found that host galaxies of WATCAT sources are all luminous (−20.5 ≳ Mr ≳ −23.7), red early-type galaxies with black hole masses in the range 108 ≲ MBH ≲ 109 M⊙. The spectroscopic classification indicates that they are all low-excitation galaxies (LEGs). Comparing WAT multifrequency properties with those of FR I and FR II radio galaxies at the same redshifts, we conclude that WATs show multifrequency properties remarkably similar to FR I radio galaxies, having radio power of typical FR IIs.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (14) ◽  
pp. 314-315
Author(s):  
Hubert Lampeitl ◽  
Adam G. Riess

AbstractSNe Ia are currently providing the most direct measurements of the accelerated expansion of the Universe and also put constraints on the nature and evolution of the so-called ‘dark energy’. Despite major efforts to increase the number of known high-redshift SNe Ia with reliable distance estimates, two regions in the Hubble diagram remain only sparsely observed. At redshifts z > 1 the limitations of ground-based instruments require the Hubble Space Telescope and its superior angular resolution to get meaningful distance estimates, while at intermediate redshifts (z ≃ 0.2) the large solid angle necessary presents an obstacle to most surveys that can be overcome with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, SDSS-II.


2007 ◽  
Vol 669 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid S. Pilyugin ◽  
Trinh X. Thuan

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document