CLEAR: The Ionization and Chemical-Enrichment Properties of Galaxies at 1.1 < z < 2.3

TL;DR

This study uses deep HST spectroscopy to analyze the ionization and chemical properties of star-forming galaxies at redshifts 1.1 to 2.3, revealing lower metallicities and higher ionization parameters compared to local galaxies, with implications for galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides new calibrations linking emission line ratios to metallicity and ionization, and explores how these properties correlate with star formation rates at high redshift.

Findings

High-redshift galaxies have lower metallicity than local counterparts.

Ionization parameters are higher in galaxies with higher sSFR.

Updated models improve understanding of nebular gas properties.

Abstract

We use deep spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide-Field-Camera 3 (WFC3) IR grisms combined with broad-band photometry to study the stellar populations, gas ionization and chemical abundances in star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 1.1-2.3$. The data stem from the CANDELS Lyman-$\alpha$ Emission At Reionization (CLEAR) survey. At these redshifts the grism spectroscopy measure the [OII] 3727, 3729, [OIII] 4959, 5008, H-$\beta$ strong emission features, which constrain the ionization parameter and oxygen abundance of the nebular gas. We compare the line flux measurements to predictions from updated photoionization models (MAPPINGS (Kewley et al. 2019), which include an updated treatment of nebular gas pressure, log P/k = $n_e T_e$. Compared to low-redshift samples ($z\sim 0.2$) at fixed stellar mass, llog M / M$_\odot$ = 9.4-9.8, the CLEAR galaxies at z=1.35 (z=1.90) have lower gas-phase metallicity, $\Delta$(log Z) = 0.25 (0.35) dex, and higher ionization parameters, $\Delta$(log q) = 0.25 (0.35) dex, where U = q/c. We provide updated analytic calibrations between the [OIII], [OII], and H-$\beta$ emission line ratios, metallicity, and ionization parameter. The CLEAR galaxies show that at fixed stellar mass, the gas ionization parameter is correlated with the galaxy specific star-formation rates (sSFRs), where $\Delta$ log q = 0.4 $\Delta$(log sSFR), derived from changes in the strength of galaxy H-$\beta$ equivalent width. We interpret this as a consequence of higher gas densities, lower gas covering fractions, combined with higher escape fraction of H-ionizing photons. We discuss both tests to confirm these assertions and implications this has for future observations of galaxies at higher redshifts.