Oxygen and nitrogen abundances in nearby galaxies. Correlations between oxygen abundance and macroscopic properties

摘要

We performed a compilation of more than 1000 published spectra of HII regionsin spiral galaxies. The oxygen and nitrogen abundances in each HII region wererecomputed in a homogeneous way, using the P-method. The radial distributionsof oxygen and nitrogen abundances were derived. The correlations between oxygenabundance and macroscopic properties are examined. There is a significantdifference between the L-Z relationship obtained here and that based on theoxygen abundances determined through the R_23-calibrations. The oxygenabundance of NGC 5457 recently determined using direct measurements of Te(Kennicutt, Bresolin & Garnett 2003) agrees with the L-Z relationship derivedhere, but is in conflict with the L-Z relationship derived with the R_23-basedoxygen abundances. The obtained L-Z relation for spirals is compared to thatfor irregulars. Our sample of galaxies shows evidence that the slope of theO/H-M_B relationship for spirals is slightly more shallow than that forirregulars. The effective oxygen yields were estimated for spiral and irregulargalaxies. The effective oxygen yield increases with increasing luminosity fromM_B=-11 to M_B=-18 (or with increasing rotation velocity from Vrot=10 km/s toVrot=100 km/s) and then remains approximately constant. Irregular galaxies fromour sample have effective oxygen yields lowered by a factor of 3 at maximum,i.e. irregular galaxies usually keep at least 1/3 of the oxygen theymanufactured during their evolution.