Unveiling the Cosmic Chemistry. II. “Direct” T e -based Metallicity of Galaxies at 3 < z < 10 with JWST/NIRSpec

作者：Priyanka Chakraborty, Arnab Sarkar, Randall K. Smith, G. J. Ferland, M. McDonald, W. Forman, Mark Vogelsberger, Paul Torrey, Alex M. Garcia, Mark W. Bautz, Adam Foster, Eric D. Miller, Catherine E. Grant · 发表于：The Astrophysical Journal · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3847/1538-4357/adc7b5 · 被引用次数：21 · 研究领域：Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena、Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies、Astronomy and Astrophysical Research

Abstract 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 PRIMAL surveys, 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 data set 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 data set allows 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: R ˆ = 0.18log R2...