Kavli Affiliate: Mark Vogelsberger
| First 5 Authors: Priyanka Chakraborty, Arnab Sarkar, Randall Smith, Gary J. Ferland, Michael McDonald
| Summary:
We report the detection of the [O III] auroral line in 42 galaxies within the
redshift range of $3 < z < 10$. These galaxies were selected from publicly
available JWST data releases, including the JADES and PRIMALsurveys, and
observed using both the low-resolution PRISM/CLEAR configuration and
medium-resolution gratings. The measured electron temperatures in the
high-ionization regions of these galaxies range from $T_e$([O III]) = 12,000 to
24,000 K, consistent with temperatures observed in local metal-poor galaxies
and previous JWST studies. In 10 galaxies, we also detect the [O II] auroral
line, allowing us to determine electron temperatures in the low-ionization
regions, which range between $T_e$([O II]) = 10,830 and 20,000 K. The
direct-$T_e$-based metallicities of our sample span from 12 + log(O/H) = 7.2 to
8.4, indicating these high-redshift galaxies are relatively metal-poor. By
combining our sample with 25 galaxies from the literature, we expand the
dataset to a total of 67 galaxies within $3 < z < 10$, effectively more than
doubling the previous sample size for direct-$T_e$ based metallicity studies.
This larger dataset allow us to derive empirical metallicity calibration
relations based exclusively on high-redshift galaxies, using six key line
ratios: R3, R2, R23, Ne3O2, O32, and O3N2. Notably, we derive a novel
metallicity calibration relation for the first time using high-redshift
$T_e$-based metallicities: $hat{R}$ = 0.18log $R2$ + 0.98log $R3$. This new
calibration significantly reduces the scatter in high-redshift galaxies
compared to the $hat{R}$ relation previously calibrated for low-redshift
galaxies.
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