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We use a sample of 536 H II regions located in nearby spirals, with a homogeneous determination of their Te-based abundances, to obtain new empirical calibrations of the N2O2, N2S2, O3N2, and N2 strong-line indices to estimate the nitrogen-to-oxygen abundance ratio when auroral lines are not detected. All indices are strongly correlated with the Te-based log (N/O) for our H II region sample, even more strongly than with 12 + log (O/H). N2O2 is the most strongly correlated index, and the best fit to the log (N/O)–N2O2 relation is obtained with a second-order polynomial. The derived relation has a low dispersion (rms < 0.09 dex), being valid in the range −1.74 < N2O2 < 0.62 (or −1.81 < log (N/O) < −0.13). We have compared our calibration with previous ones and have discussed the differences between them in terms of the nature of the objects used as calibrators. © 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.

Low-metallicity, compact starburst galaxies referred to as Green Peas (GPs) provide a unique window to study galactic evolution across cosmic epochs. In this work, we present new deep optical spectra for three GPs from OSIRIS at the 10-m Gran Telescopio Canarias, which are studied using a state-of-the-art methodology. A stellar population synthesis is conducted with 1098 spectral templates. The methodology succeeds at characterizing stellar populations from 0.5 Myr to 10 Gyr. The light distribution shows a large red excess from a single population with log(age)>8.5yr in the GP sample analysed. This points towards an incomplete characterization of the gas luminosity, whose continuum already accounts between 7.4 and 27.6 per cent in the galaxy sample. The emission spectra are fitted with the largest Bayesian chemical model consisting of an electron temperature, an electron density, the logarithmic extinction coefficient and eleven ionic species under the direct method paradigm. Additionally, building on previous work, we propose a neural networks sampler to constrain the effective temperature and ionization parameter of each source from photoionization model grids. Finally, we combine both methodologies into a 16-dimensional model, which for the first time, simultaneously explores the direct method and photoionization parameter spaces. Both techniques consistently indicate a low-metallicity gas, 7.76<12+log(O/H)<8.04⁠, ionized by strong radiation fields, in agreement with previous works. © 2021 The Author(s).

We present here the second part of a project that aims at solving the controversy regarding the issue of the bar effect on the radial distribution of metals in the gas-phase of spiral galaxies. In Paper I, we presented a compilation of more than 2800 H ii regions belonging to 51 nearby galaxies for which we derived chemical abundances and radial abundance profiles from a homogeneous methodology. In this paper, we analyse the derived gas-phase radial abundance profiles of 12+log (O/H) and log (N/O), for barred and unbarred galaxies separately, and find that the differences in slope between barred and unbarred galaxies depend on galaxy luminosity. This is due to a different dependence of the abundance gradients (in dex kpc-1) on luminosity for the two types of galaxies: in the galaxy sample under consideration the gradients appear to be considerably shallower for strongly barred galaxies in the whole luminosity range, while profile slopes for unbarred galaxies become steeper with decreasing luminosity. Therefore, we only detect differences in slope for the lower luminosity (lower mass) galaxies (MB-19.5 or M∗ 1010.4 M). We discuss the results in terms of the disc evolution and radial mixing induced by bars and spiral arms. Our results reconcile previous discrepant findings that were biased by the luminosity (mass) distribution of the sample galaxies and possibly by the abundance diagnostics employed. © 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Studies of gas-phase radial metallicity profiles in spirals published in the last decade have diminished the importance of galactic bars as agents that mix and flatten the profiles, contradicting results obtained in the 1990s. We have collected a large sample of 2831 published H ii region emission-line fluxes in 51 nearby galaxies, including objects both with and without the presence of a bar, with the aim of revisiting the issue of whether bars affect the radial metal distribution in spirals. In this first paper of a series of two, we present the galaxy and the H ii region samples. The methodology is homogeneous for the whole data sample and includes the derivation of H ii region chemical abundances, structural parameters of bars and discs, galactocentric distances, and radial abundance profiles. We have obtained O/H and N/O abundance ratios from the Te-based (direct) method for a subsample of 610 regions, and from a variety of strong-line methods for the whole H ii region sample. The strong-line methods have been evaluated in relation to the Te-based one from both a comparison of the derived O/H and N/O abundances for individual H ii regions and a comparison of the abundance gradients derived from both methodologies. The median value and the standard deviation of the gradient distributions depend on the abundance method, and those based on the O3N2 indicator tend to flatten the steepest profiles, reducing the range of observed gradients. A detailed analysis and discussion of the derived O/H and N/O radial abundance gradients and y-intercepts for barred and unbarred galaxies is presented in the companion Paper II. The whole H ii region catalogue including emission-line fluxes, positions, and derived abundances is made publicly available on the CDS VizieR facility, together with the radial abundance gradients for all galaxies. © 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

We estimate chemical abundances and ionization parameters in the nuclear region of a sample of 143 galaxies from the Palomar Spectroscopic Survey, composed by star-forming galaxies (87), Seyferts 2 (16), and LINERs (40) using the HII-CHI-MISTRY code. We also study for each spectral type the correlation of the derived quantities with other different properties of the host galaxies, such as morphology, stellar mass, luminosity, and mass of their supermassive black holes. The results obtained for star-forming galaxies are used to check the soundness of our methodology. Then, we replicate a similar study for our sample of AGN, distinguishing between Seyferts 2 and LINERs. We report a saturation of Oxygen abundances for the nuclear regions of SFG. The correlations between chemical abundances and their host galaxy properties for SFG are in good agreement with previous studies. We find that Seyferts 2 present slightly higher chemical abundances but this result must be reexamined in larger samples of Seyfert galaxies. In contrast, we obtain lower chemical abundances for LINERs than for SFG. We confirm these relatively lower abundances for another sample of infrared luminous LINERs in the same stellar mass range. Our analysis of AGNs (both LINERs and Seyferts) shows that their host galaxy properties are not correlated with our estimated chemical abundances. © 2021 The Author(s).

We present maps for the electron temperature in the inner kpc of three luminous Seyfert galaxies: Mrk 79, Mrk 348, and Mrk 607 obtained from Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph-integral field unit observations at spatial resolutions of ∼110–280 pc. We study the distributions of electron temperature in active galaxies and find temperatures varying in the range from ∼8000 to ≳30000K. Shocks due to gas outflows play an important role in the observed temperature distributions of Mrk 79 and Mrk 348, while standard photoionization models reproduce the derived temperature values for Mrk 607. In Mrk 79 and Mrk 348, we find direct evidence for shock ionization with overall orientation orthogonal to the ionization axis, where shocks can be easily observed as the active galactic nuclei radiation field is shielded by the nuclear dusty torus. This also indicates that even when the ionization cones are narrow, the shocks can be much wider angle. © 2020 The Author(s).

Local star-forming galaxies show properties that are thought to differ from galaxies in the early Universe. Among them, the ionizing stellar populations and the gas geometry make the recipes designed to derive chemical abundances from nebular emission lines to differ from those calibrated in the Local Universe. A sample of 1969 extreme emission-line galaxies (EELGs) at a redshift 0 ? z ? 0.49, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to be local analogues of high-redshift galaxies, was used to analyse their most prominent emission lines and to derive total oxygen abundances and nitrogen-to-oxygen ratios following the direct method in the ranges 7.7 < 12 + log(O/H) < 8.6 and -1.8 < log(N/O) < -0.8. They allow us to obtain new empirically calibrated strong-line methods and to evaluate other recipes based on photoionization models that can be later used for a chemical analysis of actively star-forming galaxies in very early stages of galaxy evolution. Our new relations are in agreement with others found for smaller samples of objects at higher redshifts. When compared with other relations calibrated in the local Universe, they differ when the employed strong-line ratio depends on the hardness of the ionizing radiation, such as O32 or Ne3O2, but they do not when the main dependence is on the ionization parameter, such as S23. In the case of strong-line ratios depending on [N ii] lines, the derivation of O/H becomes very uncertain due to the very high N/O values derived in this sample, above all in the low-metallicity regime. Finally, we adapt the Bayesian-like code H ii-chi-mistry for the conditions found in this kind of galaxies and we prove that it can be used to derive within errors both O/H and N/O, in consistency with the direct method. © 2021 The Author(s).

Using new Very Large Telescope (VLT)/XShooter spectral observations we analyse the physical properties of five z similar to 0.3-0.4 confirmed Lyman continuum (LyC) leakers. Strong resonant MgII lambda lambda 2796, 2803 angstrom emission lines (I(lambda lambda 2796, 2803)/I(H beta) similar or equal to 10-38 per cent) and non-resonant Fe II* lambda lambda 2612, 2626 angstrom emission lines are observed in spectra of five and three galaxies, respectively. We find high electron densities N-e similar to 400 cm(-3), significantly higher than in typical low-z, but comparable to those measured in z similar to 2-3 star-forming galaxies (SFGs). The galaxies have a mean value of log N/O = -1.16, close to the maximum values found for SFGs in the metallicity range of 12 + logO/H similar or equal to 7.7-8.1. All 11 low-z LyC emitting galaxies found by Izotov et al., including the ones considered in this study, are characterized by high equivalent width (EW) (H beta) similar to 200-400 angstrom, high ionization parameter (log(U) = -2.5 to -1.7), high average ionizing photon production efficiency xi = 10(25.54) Hz erg(-1), and hard ionizing radiation. On the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) diagram we find the same offset of our leakers from low-z main-sequence SFGs as that for local analogues of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and extreme SFGs at z similar to 2-3. We confirm the effectiveness of the He I emission lines diagnostics proposed by Izotov et al. in searching for LyC leaker candidates and find that their intensity ratios correspond to those in a median with low neutral hydrogen column density N(H I) = 10(17)-5 x 10(17) cm(-2) that permit leakage of LyC radiation, likely due to their density-bounded HII regions. © 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

Here we report the first spatially resolved spectroscopic study for the galaxy PHL 293B using the high-resolutionGTC/MEGARA integral field unit (IFU). PHL 293B is a local, extremely metal-poor, high ionization galaxy. This makes PHL 293B an excellent analogue for galaxies in the early Universe. The MEGARA aperture (similar to 12.5 arcsec x 11.3 arcsec) covers the entire PHL 293B main body and its far-reaching ionized gas. We created and discussedmaps of all relevant emission lines, line ratios, and physical-chemical properties of the ionized ISM. The narrow emission gas appears to be ionized mainly by massive stars according to the observed diagnostic line ratios, regardless of the position across the MEGARA aperture. We detected low intensity broad emission components and blueshifted absorptions in the Balmer lines (H alpha,H beta) which are located in the brightest zone of the galaxy ISM. A chemically homogeneity, across hundreds of parsecs, is observed in O/H. We take the oxygen abundance 12+log (O/H) = 7.64 +/- 0.06 derived from the PHL 293B integrated spectrum as the representative metallicity for the galaxy. Our IFU data reveal for the first time that the nebular He II.4686 emission from PHL 293B is spatially extended and coincident with the ionizing stellar cluster, and allow us to compute its absolute He II ionizing photon flux. Wolf-Rayet bumps are not detected excluding therefore Wolf-Rayet stars as the main He II excitation source. The origin of the nebular He II lambda 4686 is discussed. © 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

We investigate the discrepancy between oxygen abundance estimations for narrow-line regions of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) type Seyfert 2 derived using direct estimations of the electron temperature (T-e-method) and those derived using photoionization models. In view of this, observational emission-line ratios in the optical range (3000 < lambda(angstrom) < 7000) of Seyfert 2 nuclei compiled from the literature were reproduced by detailed photoionization models built with the CLOUDY code. We find that the derived discrepancies are mainly due to the inappropriate use of the relations between temperatures of the low (t(2)) and high (t(3)) ionization gas zones derived for H II regions in AGN chemical abundance studies. Using a photoionization model grid, we derived a new expression for t(2) as a function of t(3) valid for Seyfert 2 nuclei. The use of this new expression in the AGN estimation of the O/H abundances based on Te-method produces O/H abundances slightly lower (about 0.2 dex) than those derived from detailed photoionization models. We also find that the new formalism for the T-e-method reduces by about 0.4 dex the O/H discrepancies between the abundances obtained from strong emission-line calibrations and those derived from direct estimations. © 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

Integral field spectroscopy is well known for providing detailed insight of extended sources thanks to the possibility of handling space resolved spectroscopic information. Simple and straightforward analysis such as single line fitting yields interesting results, although it might miss a more complete picture in many cases. Violent star-forming regions, such as starburst galaxies, display very complex emission line profiles due to multiple kinematic components superposed in the line of sight. We perform a spatially resolved kinematical study of a single Green Pea (GP) galaxy, SDSS J083843.63+385350.5, using a new method for analysing integral field unit observations of emission line spectra. The method considers the presence of multiple components in the emission line profiles and makes use of a statistical indicator to determine the meaningful number of components to fit the observed profiles. We are able to identify three distinct kinematic features throughout the field and discuss their link with a rotating component, a strong outflow, and a turbulent mixing layer. We also derive an updated star formation rate for SDSS J0838 and discuss the link between the observed signatures of a large-scale outflow and of the Lyman continuum leakage detected in GP galaxies.© 2019 The Authors.

We present a new methodology for the analysis of the emission lines of the interstellar medium in the narrow-line regions around type-2 active galactic nuclei. Our aim is to provide a recipe that can be used for large samples of objects in a consistent way using different sets of optical emission lines that takes into the account possible variations from the O/H-N/O relation to use [N II] lines. Our approach consists of a bayesian-like comparison between certain observed emission-line ratios sensitive to total oxygen abundance, nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio, and ionization parameter with the predictions from a large grid of photoionization models calculated under the most usual conditions in this environment. We applied our method to a sample of Seyfert 2 galaxies with optical emission-line fluxes and determinations of their chemical properties from detailed models in the literature. Our results agree within the errors with other results and confirm the high metallicity of the objects of the sample, with N/O values consistent with a large secondary production of N, but with a large dispersion. The obtained ionization parameters for this sample are much larger than those for star-forming object at the same metallicity. © 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

We use integral field spectroscopic (IFS) observations fromGemini Multi-Object Spectrograph North (GMOS-N) of a group of four HII regions and the surrounding gas in the central region of the blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxy NGC 4670. At spatial scales of ~9 pc, we map the spatial distribution of a variety of physical properties of the ionized gas: internal dust attenuation, kinematics, stellar age, star formation rate, emission-line ratios, and chemical abundances. The region of study is found to be photoionized. Using the robust direct T method, we estimate metallicity, nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio, and helium abundance of the four HII regions. The same parameters are also mapped for the entire region using the HII-CHImistry code. We find that log(N/O) is increased in the region where the Wolf-Rayet bump is detected. The region coincides with the continuum region, around which we detect a slight increase in He abundance. We estimate the number of WC4, WN2-4, and WN7-9 stars from the integrated spectrum of WR bump region. We study the relation between log(N/O) and 12 + log(O/H) using the spatially resolved data of the field of view as well as the integrated data of the HII regions from 10 BCDs. We find an unexpected negative trend between N/O and metallicity. Several scenarios are explored to explain this trend, including nitrogen enrichment, and variations in star formation efficiency via chemical evolution models.© 2018 The Author(s).