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arXiv · 1508.07802

On the central abundances of Active Galactic Nuclei and Star-forming Galaxies

O. L. Dors·M. V. Cardaci·G. F. Hagele·I. Rodrigues·E. K. Grebel·L. S. Pilyugin·P. Freitas-Lemes·A. C. Krabbe
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Abstract

We examine the relation between oxygen abundances in the narrow-line regions (NLRs) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) estimated from the optical emission lines through the strong-line method (the theoretical calibration of Storchi-Bergmann et al.(1998)), via the direct Te-method, and the central intersect abundances in the host galaxies determined from the radial abundance gradients. We found that the Te-method underestimates the oxygen abundances by up to ~2 dex (with average value of ~0.8 dex) compared to the abundances derived through the strong-line method. This confirms the existence of the so-called "temperature problem" in AGNs. We also found that the abundances in the centres of galaxies obtained from their spectra trough the strong-line method are close to or slightly lower than the central intersect abundances estimated from the radial abundance gradient both in AGNs and Star-forming galaxies. The oxygen abundance of the NLR is usually lower than the maximum attainable abundance in galaxies (~2 times the solar value). This suggests that there is no extraordinary chemical enrichment of the NLRs of AGNs.

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O. L. Dors, M. V. Cardaci, G. F. Hagele, I. Rodrigues, E. K. Grebel, L. S. Pilyugin, P. Freitas-Lemes, A. C. Krabbe. 2015-08-31. On the central abundances of Active Galactic Nuclei and Star-forming Galaxies. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2Fstv1916

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