SDSS-IV MaNGA: Exploring the local scaling relations for N/O

TL;DR

This study investigates how local stellar mass density, star formation rate, and galaxy size influence nitrogen-to-oxygen ratios in galaxies, revealing complex dependencies beyond local conditions and questioning the universality of nitrogen-based metallicity indicators.

Contribution

It is the first to analyze the relationship between local stellar mass surface density and N/O using MaNGA data, highlighting the importance of galaxy-wide properties in nitrogen evolution.

Findings

N/O depends on local stellar mass density and star formation rate surface density.

Galaxy size and total stellar mass influence local N/O ratios.

Approximately 50% of N/O variance is explained by galaxy mass and size.

Abstract

We present, for the first time, the relationship between local stellar mass surface density, $\mathrm{\Sigma_{*}}$, and N/O derived from SDSS-IV MaNGA data, using a sample of $792765$ high signal-to-noise ratio star-forming spaxels. Using a combination of phenomenological modelling and partial correlation analysis, we find that $\mathrm{\Sigma_{*}}$ alone is insufficient to predict the N/O in MaNGA spaxels, and that there is an additional dependence on the local star formation rate surface density, $\mathrm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$. This effect is a factor of $3$ stronger than the dependence of 12+log(O/H) on $\mathrm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$. Surprisingly, we find that the local N/O scaling relations also depend on the total galaxy stellar mass at fixed $\Sigma_{*}$ as well as the galaxy size at fixed stellar mass. We find that more compact galaxies are more nitrogen rich, even when $\mathrm{\Sigma_{*}}$ and $\mathrm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$ are controlled for. We show that $\sim50\%$ of the variance of N/O is explained by the total stellar mass and size. Thus, the evolution of nitrogen in galaxies is set by more than just local effects and does not simply track the build up of oxygen in galaxies. The precise form of the N/O-O/H relation is therefore sensitive to the sample of galaxies from which it is derived. This result casts doubt on the universal applicability of nitrogen-based strong-line metallicity indicators derived in the local universe.