H II Region Abundances in Seyfert Galaxies
Abstract
The theoretical H II region abundance sequence calibration reported by Dopita and Evans in 1986 has been applied to optical spectrophotometry of 23 H II regions located in the inner disk regions of two Seyfert 1 and two Seyfert 2 galaxies, including the prototype Seyfert 2, NGC 1068, in order to determine oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur abundances. The mean oxygen abundance derived for each galaxy ranges between solar abundance and twice solar abundance. There is no evidence for abnormal N/O or S/O abundance ratios in any of the H II regions observed. The observations suggest that the abundances derived for the H II regions may be adopted as nuclear abundances and employed to constrain theoretical models of the Seyfert nucleus. The observations then place limits on the influence which the active nucleus can have on chemical enrichment of the local interstellar medium.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 1987
- DOI:
- 10.1086/165486
- Bibcode:
- 1987ApJ...319..662E
- Keywords:
-
- Abundance;
- Astronomical Spectroscopy;
- Hydrogen Clouds;
- Seyfert Galaxies;
- Visible Spectrum;
- Astronomical Models;
- Galactic Structure;
- Astrophysics;
- GALAXIES: SEYFERT;
- NEBULAE: ABUNDANCES;
- NEBULAE: H II REGIONS