CLASSY XII: Nitrogen enrichment shaped by gas density and feedback

  • K. Z. Arellano-Córdova
  • , D. A. Berg
  • , M. Mingozzi
  • , B. L. James
  • , F. Vincenzo
  • , Noah S Rogers
  • , E. D. Skillman
  • , R. O. Amorín
  • , F. Cullen
  • , S. R. Flury
  • , V. Abril-Melgarejo
  • , J. Chisholm
  • , T. Heckman
  • , M. J. Hayes
  • , S. Hernandez
  • , N. Kumari
  • , C. Kobayashi
  • , C. Leitherer
  • , C. L. Martin
  • , Z. Martinez
  • T. Nanayakkara, K. S. Parker, P. Senchyna, C. Scarlata, M. G. Stephenson, A. Wofford, X. Xu, P. Zhu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate the chemical evolution of N/O using a sample of 45 local star-forming galaxies from the CLASSY survey. This sample spans a wide range of galaxy properties, with robust determinations of nitrogen and oxygen abundances via the direct- method. We explore how N/O relates to density structure, stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), stellar age, compactness, and gas kinematics. In addition, we compare our results with those of galaxies at where N/O ratios were derived from optical or UV nitrogen lines, aiming to identify chemical enrichment pathways across cosmic time. Our analysis shows that the N/O-O/H relation in CLASSY galaxies aligns with the trends seen in local galaxies and extragalactic H ii regions, and that galaxies at exhibit similar N/O values, indicating no significant redshift evolution in N/O for a fixed metallicity. We identify a significant correlation between electron density ([S ii]) and N/O, suggesting that density structure contributes to the scatter in the N/O-O/H relation. The CLASSY galaxies with high SFRs or compact star formation show elevated N/O, though no strong correlation with stellar mass is found. We also find that high-velocity outflows (km s-1) and low mass-loading factors are linked to elevated N/O, indicating that feedback plays a significant role. These results highlight the importance of density, star formation, and feedback from young stellar populations in shaping N/O enrichment and provide key insights for interpreting high- galaxies observed with James Webb Space Telescope.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1588-1607
Number of pages20
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume544
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.

Keywords

  • galaxies: abundances
  • galaxies: dwarf
  • galaxies: evolution
  • galaxies: ISM
  • galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

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