TY - JOUR
T1 - Accurate oxygen abundance of interstellar gas in Mrk 71 from optical and infrared spectra
AU - Chen, Yuguang
AU - Jones, Tucker
AU - Sanders, Ryan
AU - Fadda, Dario
AU - Sutter, Jessica
AU - Minchin, Robert
AU - Huntzinger, Erin
AU - Senchyna, Peter
AU - Stark, Daniel
AU - Spilker, Justin
AU - Weiner, Benjamin
AU - Roberts-Borsani, Guido
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - The heavy element content (‘metallicity’) of the Universe is a record of the total star formation history. Gas-phase metallicity in galaxies, as well as its evolution with time, is of particular interest as a tracer of accretion and outflow processes. However, metallicities from the widely used electron temperature (Te) method are typically approximately two times lower than the values based on the recombination line method. This ‘abundance discrepancy factor’ is well known and is commonly ascribed to bias due to temperature fluctuations. We present a measurement of oxygen abundance in the nearby (3.4-Mpc) system, Markarian 71, using a combination of optical and far-infrared emission lines to measure and correct for temperature fluctuation effects. Our far-infrared result is inconsistent (>2σ significance) with the metallicity from recombination lines and, instead, indicates little to no bias in the standard Te method, ruling out the long-standing hypothesis that the abundance discrepancy factor is explained by temperature fluctuations for this object. Our results provide a framework to accurately measure metallicity across cosmic history, including with recent data reaching within the first billion years, with the James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
AB - The heavy element content (‘metallicity’) of the Universe is a record of the total star formation history. Gas-phase metallicity in galaxies, as well as its evolution with time, is of particular interest as a tracer of accretion and outflow processes. However, metallicities from the widely used electron temperature (Te) method are typically approximately two times lower than the values based on the recombination line method. This ‘abundance discrepancy factor’ is well known and is commonly ascribed to bias due to temperature fluctuations. We present a measurement of oxygen abundance in the nearby (3.4-Mpc) system, Markarian 71, using a combination of optical and far-infrared emission lines to measure and correct for temperature fluctuation effects. Our far-infrared result is inconsistent (>2σ significance) with the metallicity from recombination lines and, instead, indicates little to no bias in the standard Te method, ruling out the long-standing hypothesis that the abundance discrepancy factor is explained by temperature fluctuations for this object. Our results provide a framework to accurately measure metallicity across cosmic history, including with recent data reaching within the first billion years, with the James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153384693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85153384693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41550-023-01953-7
DO - 10.1038/s41550-023-01953-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85153384693
SN - 2397-3366
VL - 7
SP - 771
EP - 778
JO - Nature Astronomy
JF - Nature Astronomy
IS - 7
ER -