Journal article
Influence of the Void Environment on Chemical Abundances in Dwarf Galaxies and Implications for Connecting Star Formation and Halo Mass
The Astrophysical journal, v 864(2), p144
10 Sep 2018
Abstract
We study how the void environment affects the chemical evolution of galaxies in the universe by comparing the oxygen and nitrogen abundances of dwarf galaxies in voids with dwarf galaxies in denser regions. Using spectroscopic observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we estimate the oxygen, nitrogen, and neon abundances of 889 void dwarf galaxies and 672 dwarf galaxies in denser regions. We use the Direct T-e method for calculating the gas-phase chemical abundances in the dwarf galaxies because it is best suited for low-metallicity, low-mass (dwarf) galaxies. A substitute for the [O II] lambda 3727 doublet is developed, permitting oxygen abundance estimates of SDSS dwarf galaxies at all redshifts with the Direct Te method. We find that void dwarf galaxies have about the same oxygen abundance and Ne/O ratio as dwarf galaxies in denser environments. However, we find that void dwarf galaxies have slightly higher neon (similar to 10%) abundances than dwarf galaxies in denser environments. The opposite trend is seen in both the nitrogen abundance and N/O ratio: void dwarf galaxies have slightly lower nitrogen abundances (similar to 5%) and lower N/O ratios (similar to 7%) than dwarf galaxies in denser regions. Therefore, we conclude that the void environment has a slight influence on dwarf galaxy chemical evolution. Our mass N/O relationship shows that the secondary production of nitrogen commences at a lower stellar mass in void dwarf star-forming galaxies than in dwarf star-forming galaxies in denser environments. We also find that star-forming void dwarf galaxies have higher H I masses than the star-forming dwarf galaxies in denser regions. Our star-forming dwarf galaxy sample demonstrates a strong anti-correlation between the sSFR and N/O ratio, providing evidence that oxygen is produced in higher-mass stars than those which synthesize nitrogen. The lower N/O ratios and smaller stellar mass for secondary nitrogen production seen in void dwarf galaxies may indicate both delayed star formation as predicted by ACDM cosmology and a dependence of cosmic downsizing on the large-scale environment. A shift toward slightly higher oxygen abundances and higher H I masses in void dwarf galaxies could be evidence of larger ratios of dark matter halo mass to stellar mass in voids compared with denser regions.
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Details
- Title
- Influence of the Void Environment on Chemical Abundances in Dwarf Galaxies and Implications for Connecting Star Formation and Halo Mass
- Creators
- Kelly A. Douglass - Drexel UniversityMichael S. Vogeley - Drexel UniversityRenyue Cen - Princeton University
- Publication Details
- The Astrophysical journal, v 864(2), p144
- Publisher
- Iop Publishing Ltd
- Number of pages
- 17
- Grant note
- Max Planck Society; Foundation CELLEX Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University University of Cambridge University of Chicago U.S. Department of Energy; United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) University of Basil Korean Scientist Group Institute for Advanced Study Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST); Chinese Academy of Sciences United States Naval Observatory 1410525 / Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) Japanese Monbukagakusho; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) Ohio State University Fermilab University of Pittsburgh Los Alamos National Laboratory; United States Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics Alfred P. Sloan Foundation University of Washington Princeton University Japan Participation Group; Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) University of Portsmouth AST-1410525; AST-1515389 / NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Funding Council for England; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Astrophysical Institute Potsdam Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology American Museum of Natural History Case Western Reserve University National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) Johns Hopkins University Drexel University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000444411900003
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85053382588
- Other Identifier
- 991019168220604721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Astronomy & Astrophysics