The Near-IR [SIII] Lines in a Sample of Star-Forming Galaxies: Chemical Abundances

Abstract

We present a detailed spectroscopic study of a sample of 34 star-forming dwarf galaxies, ranging from the blue to near-infrared (λ3700Å-1μm) (Kehrig et al. 2006). The metal enrichment in this kind of objects has been operating typically at low metallicity enviroments. The spectra were observed with the 1.52m telescope at La Silla/ESO. We derive fundamental parameters for HII regions and ionizing sources in our star-forming galaxies, as well as gaseous metal abundances. All the spectra include the nebular[SIII]λλ9069,9532Å lines, that are of crucial importance in the derivation of the S/H abundances, and relevant ionization diagnostics. We study the relative hardness of their ionizing sources using the η' parameter (Vílchez & Pagel 1988), and exploring the roles played by metallicity and age. The ionic and total O/H was also derived using direct determinations of the t_e[OIII]. The mean S/O ratio derived in this work is constant and slightly below the solar (S/O)_⊙ value (see fig 1). The data presented here are consistent with the conclusion that S/O remains constant as O/H varies among the sample of HII galaxies. Variations in S/O along the whole O/H abundance range may be present, but the scatter in S/O (due mainly to observational errors) is still large to constrain them. The assumption that the S/O ratio remains constant for all abundances is still an open question and should be explored further (Pérez-Montero et al. 2006).