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 language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1588-1607 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
| Volume | 544 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 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