Nitrogen self-enrichment in the starburst galaxies under the metal poor environments

  • Chung, Ji-Won (Dept. of Astronomy and Space science, Chungnam National University) ;
  • Sung, Eon-Chang (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI)) ;
  • Rey, Soo-Chang (Dept. of Astronomy and Space science, Chungnam National University) ;
  • Kyeong, Jae-mann (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI))
  • Published : 2010.10.06

Abstract

We present elemental abundances of 412 blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) at z=0.2~0.5 using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. The gas-phase nitrogen to oxygen abundance ratios (N/O) of sample galaxies increase as the oxygen to hydrogen abundance ratios (O/H) decrease. This indicates that the nitrogen is more enriched than the oxygen. We found that there is a noticeable distinction between the merger candidates and the isolated galaxies. Merging candidates show more enrichment of nitrogen abundance compared to isolated galaxies. On the other hand, neon and oxygen abundances for merging candidates are slightly lower than the isolated systems. We discuss the main cause of these trends with internal mixing and mass loss by fast rotation of young massive stars. We also discuss the environmental effect to the relation between specific star formation rate and galaxy mass.

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