JADES: Evolution of nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies from z ~ 1.5-7
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| author | Cameron, Alex J. Carreira, Courtney Simmonds, Charlotte Bunker, Andrew J. Saxena, Aayush Carniani, Stefano Charlot, Stéphane Chevallard, Jacopo Curtis-Lake, Emma Hainline, Kevin Hausen, Ryan Ji, Xihan Ji, Zhiyuan Johnson, Benjamin D. Rinaldi, Pierluigi Robertson, Brant Scholtz, Jan Silcock, Maddie S. Tacchella, Sandro Trussler, James A. A. Übler, Hannah Williams, Christina C. Willmer, Christopher N. A. Willott, Chris Witstok, Joris |
| author_facet | Cameron, Alex J. Carreira, Courtney Simmonds, Charlotte Bunker, Andrew J. Saxena, Aayush Carniani, Stefano Charlot, Stéphane Chevallard, Jacopo Curtis-Lake, Emma Hainline, Kevin Hausen, Ryan Ji, Xihan Ji, Zhiyuan Johnson, Benjamin D. Rinaldi, Pierluigi Robertson, Brant Scholtz, Jan Silcock, Maddie S. Tacchella, Sandro Trussler, James A. A. Übler, Hannah Williams, Christina C. Willmer, Christopher N. A. Willott, Chris Witstok, Joris |
| contents | We present nitrogen abundance measurements based on the low-ionisation [NII]6583 emission line for 588 galaxies between 1.5<z<7.0 from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We detect the temperature-sensitive [OIII]4363 auroral line in 40 galaxies in our sample, affording $T_e$-based abundances for this subset. We find that the average N/O abundance ratio in our low-metallicity sample is at least 0.1 dex higher than z ~ 0 samples. In particular, we find significant scatter toward high N/O, with five galaxies being identified with enhanced nitrogen abundances (log(N/O)>-1.1) at low-metallicity (12+log(O/H)<8.0) from $T_e$-based measurements. Meanwhile, applying strong-line abundance measurements to the remainder of our sample reveals a further 14 candidate galaxies passing these abundance cuts, implying that around 13 % of 12+log(O/H)<8.0 galaxies at these redshifts are nitrogen-enhanced at this level. We find that N/O abundance in low-metallicity systems correlates with SFR, surface density of SFR, and surface density of stellar mass at high redshift, while only in high-metallicity systems does a correlation with stellar mass emerge. Despite healthy representation of these `moderately nitrogen-enhanced' galaxies (-1.1<log(N/O)<-0.6), no galaxies in our low-metallicity sample are identified as having log(N/O)>-0.6, abundances that are typical of high-redshift NIII]- and NIV]-emitters. This demonstrates that the extreme nitrogen enhancements seen in some NIII]- and NIV]-emitters are only attained during the most extreme starbursts. This suggests that these elevated abundances are caused by enrichment from young massive stars in extreme environments and that the impact of this enrichment pathway is milder, though still important, for high-redshift systems on the star-forming main sequence. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_15964 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | JADES: Evolution of nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies from z ~ 1.5-7 Cameron, Alex J. Carreira, Courtney Simmonds, Charlotte Bunker, Andrew J. Saxena, Aayush Carniani, Stefano Charlot, Stéphane Chevallard, Jacopo Curtis-Lake, Emma Hainline, Kevin Hausen, Ryan Ji, Xihan Ji, Zhiyuan Johnson, Benjamin D. Rinaldi, Pierluigi Robertson, Brant Scholtz, Jan Silcock, Maddie S. Tacchella, Sandro Trussler, James A. A. Übler, Hannah Williams, Christina C. Willmer, Christopher N. A. Willott, Chris Witstok, Joris Astrophysics of Galaxies We present nitrogen abundance measurements based on the low-ionisation [NII]6583 emission line for 588 galaxies between 1.5<z<7.0 from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We detect the temperature-sensitive [OIII]4363 auroral line in 40 galaxies in our sample, affording $T_e$-based abundances for this subset. We find that the average N/O abundance ratio in our low-metallicity sample is at least 0.1 dex higher than z ~ 0 samples. In particular, we find significant scatter toward high N/O, with five galaxies being identified with enhanced nitrogen abundances (log(N/O)>-1.1) at low-metallicity (12+log(O/H)<8.0) from $T_e$-based measurements. Meanwhile, applying strong-line abundance measurements to the remainder of our sample reveals a further 14 candidate galaxies passing these abundance cuts, implying that around 13 % of 12+log(O/H)<8.0 galaxies at these redshifts are nitrogen-enhanced at this level. We find that N/O abundance in low-metallicity systems correlates with SFR, surface density of SFR, and surface density of stellar mass at high redshift, while only in high-metallicity systems does a correlation with stellar mass emerge. Despite healthy representation of these `moderately nitrogen-enhanced' galaxies (-1.1<log(N/O)<-0.6), no galaxies in our low-metallicity sample are identified as having log(N/O)>-0.6, abundances that are typical of high-redshift NIII]- and NIV]-emitters. This demonstrates that the extreme nitrogen enhancements seen in some NIII]- and NIV]-emitters are only attained during the most extreme starbursts. This suggests that these elevated abundances are caused by enrichment from young massive stars in extreme environments and that the impact of this enrichment pathway is milder, though still important, for high-redshift systems on the star-forming main sequence. |
| title | JADES: Evolution of nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies from z ~ 1.5-7 |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.15964 |