The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 doi:10.

1088/0004-637X/734/1/32

C 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

SPATIALLY RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPY AND CHEMICAL HISTORY OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

IN THE HERCULES CLUSTER: THE EFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
V. Petropoulou1 , J. Vı́lchez1 , J. Iglesias-Páramo1,2 , P. Papaderos3 , L. Magrini4 , B. Cedrés1,5 , and D. Reverte6
1
Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Andalucı́a-C.S.I.C., Glorieta de la Astronomı́a, 18008 Granada, Spain
2 Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán, C/Jesús Durbán Remón 2-2, 04004 Almerı́a, Spain
3 Centro de Astrofı́sica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal
4 INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
5 Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Canarias, C/Vı́a Láctea s/n, 38205 La Laguna (Tenerife), Spain
6 GRANTECAN S. A., Centro de Astrofı́sica de La Palma, C/Cuesta de San José s/n, 38712 Breña Baja (La Palma), Spain
Received 2010 November 3; accepted 2011 April 3; published 2011 May 23

ABSTRACT
Spatially resolved spectroscopy has been obtained for a sample of 27 star-forming (SF) galaxies selected from our
deep Hα survey of the Hercules cluster. We have applied spectral synthesis models to all emission-line spectra of
this sample using the population synthesis code STARLIGHT and have obtained fundamental parameters of stellar
components such as mean metallicity and age. The emission-line spectra were corrected for underlying stellar
absorption using these spectral synthesis models. Line fluxes were measured and O/H and N/O gas chemical
abundances were obtained using the latest empirical calibrations. We have derived the masses and total luminosities
of the galaxies using available Sloan Digital Sky Survey broadband photometry. The effects of cluster environment
on the chemical evolution of galaxies and on their mass–metallicity (MZ) and luminosity–metallicity (LZ) relations
were studied by combining the derived gas metallicities, the mean stellar metallicities and ages, the masses and
luminosities of the galaxies, and their existing H i data. Our Hercules SF galaxies are divided into three main
subgroups: (1) chemically evolved spirals with truncated ionized-gas disks and nearly flat oxygen gradients,
demonstrating the effect of ram-pressure stripping; (2) chemically evolved dwarfs/irregulars populating the highest
local densities, possible products of tidal interactions in preprocessing events; and (3) less metallic dwarf galaxies
that appear to be “newcomers” to the cluster and are experiencing pressure-triggered star formation. Most Hercules
SF galaxies follow well-defined MZ and LZ sequences (for both O/H and N/O), though the dwarf/irregular galaxies
located at the densest regions appear to be outliers to these global relations, suggesting a physical reason for the
dispersion in these fundamental relations. The Hercules cluster appears to be currently assembling via the merger
of smaller substructures, providing an ideal laboratory where the local environment has been found to be a key
parameter in understanding the chemical history of galaxies.
Key words: galaxies: clusters: general – galaxies: clusters: individual (Abel 2151)
Online-only material: color figures

1. INTRODUCTION zero point and the slope of the mass–metallicity (MZ) relation
are a function of redshift.
The star formation history (SFH), gas content, and mass Many different scenarios have been proposed for the physical
exchange with the environment (infall of metal-poor gas and/ mechanisms underlying such a relation. According to Finlator
or outflow of enriched material) are fundamental variables that & Davé (2008), the chemical evolution of galaxies is governed
regulate the chemical evolution of a galaxy. Clusters of galaxies by momentum-driven gas outflows, which are more efficient
host large numbers of galaxies of various sizes, luminosities, in expelling metal-enriched gas in dwarf galaxies than in giant
and morphologies as well as a large mass of gas confined within galaxies. Spitoni et al. (2010) also support the ejection scenario
a given volume of space. Thus, galaxy clusters can provide caused by galactic winds. Köppen et al. (2007) claim that the
an excellent place to study the impact of the environment on MZ relation is linked to the initial mass function (IMF), which
the aforementioned fundamental variables regulating the metal in turn presents a higher upper mass cutoff in more massive
content of a galaxy. galaxies. Calura et al. (2009) advocate that the MZ relation is
The relation between stellar mass and metallicity is funda- intrinsically related to the mass and morphological type of the
mental to constraining galaxy evolution scenarios in dense en- galaxies. They support an increasing efficiency of star formation
vironments. From the observational point of view, Lequeux et al. with mass without any need to invoke galactic outflows. The
(1979) were the first to point out that metallicity is strongly cor- inflows scenario, whether smooth or in the form of gas-rich
related with galaxy stellar mass or luminosity, with the more satellites, has been explored by Davé et al. (2010).
massive galaxies being richer in metal. Since then much work In this context, several cluster-related environmental pro-
has been done to extend these correlations to large samples of cesses can affect the SFH or the gas exchange between the
galaxies (Skillman et al. 1989; Zaritsky et al. 1994; Lamareille galaxy and its environment and, as a consequence, could al-
et al. 2004, among others). This holds at all redshifts, although ter the chemical evolution of cluster galaxies. Some processes
for a given stellar mass, more distant galaxies appear to have mainly affect the gaseous content of a galaxy, such as the ram-
a lower metal content than local galaxies (e.g., Savaglio et al. pressure stripping (Gunn & Gott 1972; Kenney et al. 2004;
2005; Erb et al. 2006). Maiolino et al. (2008) argue that both the van Gorkom 2004), re-accretion of the stripped gas (Vollmer

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

et al. 2001), turbulence and viscosity (e.g., Quilis et al. 2000), normal to mildly gas-deficient galaxy population, indicating
and starvation/strangulation (Larson et al. 1980). Other pro- that A2151 may still be in the process of formation. Dickey
cesses can affect both the gaseous and the stellar properties of a (1997) reported the presence of strong environmental effects on
galaxy, ranging from low-velocity tidal interactions and mergers the mass of H i in the A2151 cluster. High-resolution ROSAT
(e.g., Mamon 1996; Barnes & Hernquist 1996; Conselice 2006) data (Huang & Sarazin 1996; Bird et al. 1995) reveal an irregular
to high-velocity interactions between galaxies and/or clusters X-ray emission pattern that divides this cluster into two main
(“harassment”; Moore et al. 1998, 1999; Struck 1999; Mihos components, which correspond to two groups of galaxies in
2004); see Boselli & Gavazzi (2006) for an extensive review on the region. The maximum of the cluster galaxy distribution is
this subject. not coincident with the primary X-ray maximum, but with a
A number of works have been devoted to searching for secondary one located 10–15 arcmin to the east of the primary.
the possible effects of cluster environment on the chemical This implies that most A2151 galaxies are not expected to be
properties of spiral galaxies in the Virgo cluster (Shields et al. embedded in a hot X-ray intracluster medium (ICM). Thus, the
1991; Henry et al. 1992, 1994, 1996; Skillman et al. 1996; Hercules cluster provides an ideal case in which the different
Pilyugin et al. 2002). The spirals at the periphery of the cluster effects of the cluster environment on the evolution of the galaxies
are indistinguishable from the field galaxies, whereas for the can be studied as “caught in the act.”
H i-deficient Virgo spirals near the core it has been claimed that In this work, we have benefited from our deep search for
their abundances are higher than those for the spirals located Hα emitting galaxies in the Hercules cluster (Cedrés et al.
at the periphery of the cluster or in a field with comparable 2009, C09 hereafter) to define a new sample of SF galaxies.
luminosity or Hubble type. On the other hand, several works Tracing Hα emission in order to study the population of galaxies
devoted to the study of the star formation and the metal content with recent star formation has two important advantages: (1)
of dwarfs in nearby clusters such as Virgo, Coma, and Hydra it is not aperture biased as many of the spectroscopic studies
have revealed that some of them show different behavior with using fibers are, and (2) it reveals star-forming (SF) dwarfs that
respect to field galaxies, and this fact has been attributed to would not have been classified as SF galaxies with an optical
the effect of the cluster environment (Vı́lchez 1995; Duc et al. flux criterion. We investigate gas-phase metallicities and stellar
2001; Iglesias-Páramo et al. 2003; Vı́lchez & Iglesias-Páramo properties of galaxies that span a large range of magnitudes
2003; Lee et al. 2003; Vaduvescu et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2009; (−21  MB  −16.5 mag) and morphologies (from grand
Mahajan et al. 2010). design spirals to blue compacts and tidal dwarfs).
In the era of the large surveys, observational clues that con- The present paper is organized as follows. In Section 2
strain galaxy evolution scenarios in dense environments have we present the characteristics of our spectroscopic sample,
lately been investigated on the basis of large samples of galax- the observations, and the data reduction. In Section 3, we
ies. Mouhcine et al. (2007) suggested that the evolution of SF present the spectral synthesis techniques performed to compute
galaxies is driven primarily by their intrinsic properties and is characteristic properties of the underlying stellar population.
largely independent of their environment over a large range of In Section 4, we derive the chemical and physical properties
local galaxy density. On the contrary, Cooper et al. (2008) find a of our sample of galaxies, and in Section 5 we discuss the
strong relationship between metallicity and environment, such environmental effects on the Hercules cluster galaxies. Section 6
that more metal-rich galaxies favor regions of higher overden- summarizes the overall picture of the Hercules cluster as
sity. Ellison et al. (2009) also support the environmental influ- revealed from the chemical evolution point of view.
ence, especially of the local density, on the MZ relation. It is
clear that a full understanding of the role played by the environ- 2. OBSERVATIONS
ment on galaxy evolution still remains a major issue. All these
works based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic 2.1. The Galaxy Sample
data present a deficit of important observational information Spatially resolved spectroscopy has been obtained for 27
on dwarf cluster galaxies. In addition, SDSS provides aperture Hercules SF galaxies of the C09 Hercules sample.7 We com-
spectroscopy, thus missing spatially resolved information that plement our sample with two more galaxies of the C09 sample,
can be much needed, e.g., to analyze the spatial properties of which have SDSS spectroscopy. In addition, two more galax-
galaxies in clusters. ies are considered from the Iglesias-Páramo et al. (2003, IP03
In this paper, we focus our attention on the nearby Hercules hereafter) A2151 sample of dwarf galaxies (see Section 4.2 for
(A2151) cluster of galaxies and investigate the impact of the more details). Thus, our spectroscopic sample comprises a to-
cluster environment on the chemical history of galaxies. The tal of 31 galaxies and our spectroscopic follow-up of the C09
Hercules cluster shows an amazing variety of environments sample is completed up to an absolute magnitude MB = −17
found in different parts of the cluster, which makes it one mag. To illustrate this, in Figure 1 we show the histogram of the
of the more interesting nearby (at a distance of 158.3 Mpc) C09 sample of SF galaxies as a function of their MB absolute
dense environments. It has never before been studied from the magnitude and the fraction of the galaxies with no spectroscopic
chemical evolution point of view. It is the richest and densest data.
among the three members of the Hercules supercluster (A2151, Our sample is composed of 15 luminous SF galaxies (MB 
A2147, and A2152; Barmby & Huchra 1998) and appears to −19) and 16 dwarf and Magellanic type irregular galaxies
be a collection of groups, gravitationally bound but far from (MB > −19). Among the spiral/irregular galaxies, nine show
dynamical relaxation (Bird et al. 1995; Maccagni et al. 1995). discernible spatial structure and therefore their different parts
Sánchez-Janssen et al. (2005) report the presence of at least
three distinct regions with a varying dwarf to giant galaxy ratio 7 From our spectroscopic data it is shown that the radial velocity of one
within the A2151 cluster. Giovanelli et al. (1981) studied the (SDSS J160547.17+173501.6) of the C09 galaxies is out of the velocity range
supercluster neutral hydrogen content and found that A2147 of the Hercules cluster, rendering its membership to the cluster unlikely. The
is clearly deficient in contrast with A2151, which shows a various SDSS photo-z estimates were consistent with the criteria adopted by
C09 for cluster membership. More details are given in the Appendix.

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 2. Superposition of the map of galaxy density of the Hercules cluster (red)
Figure 1. Histogram of the C09 sample of SF galaxies as a function of their MB and the ROSAT All-Sky Survey X-ray map (blue). The density map includes
absolute magnitude. We show the fraction of galaxies with no spectroscopic data all Hercules galaxies with SDSS spectroscopy. The SF galaxies of the present
(filled region). Our spectroscopic follow-up of the C09 Hercules SF galaxies is sample are indicated by pluses and squares. Open squares indicate dwarf galaxies
complete up to absolute magnitude MB = −17 mag. with abs(ΔV ) > σV . The surface density of galaxies reveals the presence of
subclusters. The extended X-ray emission coming from the hot intracluster gas
shows an irregular pattern that divides the cluster into two components. Most
have been analyzed independently (see also Section 2.3 and Hα emitters are located around the secondary X-ray maximum in the higher-
Figure A2). For three luminous galaxies and three dwarfs/ density regions of the A2151 galaxies. The blue cross indicates the position of
irregulars, we have gathered together evidence that they are the cluster center given in NED. See the text for details.
affected/perturbed by galaxy–galaxy interactions, either being (A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)
members of mergers, being tidal dwarf candidates (TDCs), or
2.2. Optical Spectroscopy
through their H i morphology showing evidences of interaction
(we give details of these objects in the Appendix). Long-slit spectroscopy was carried out at the 4.2 m WHT and
The Hercules cluster shows abundant substructures seen in the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) at the Observatorio del
X-ray emission and broadband imaging (Huang & Sarazin Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) in Spain. Table 1 shows the
1996). The galaxy surface density as well as the velocity journal of the spectroscopic observations. We present for each
space reveals the presence of subclusters in the galaxy distri- galaxy the object name as quoted by C09, R.A., decl., obser-
bution (Maccagni et al. 1995; Bird et al. 1995). The extended vation date, telescope, effective wavelength range, slit position
X-ray emission coming from the hot intracluster gas shows an angle, and total exposure time. Most of the galaxies were ob-
irregular pattern that divides the cluster into two components. served as close to the zenith as possible, always with airmass
Figure 2 illustrates the positions of our spectroscopic sample less than 1.3, in order to minimize any differential atmospheric
galaxies (pluses and squares) with respect to the density of the refraction effects, except in four cases, as indicated in Table 1,
ICM (as seen in X-ray surface brightness map from the ROSAT for which the paralactic angle was used.
All-Sky Survey; in blue) and the galaxy surface density of the Observations at the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) were
cluster (derived by counting Hercules members8 with SDSS performed during two observing runs in 2009 June and July,
spectroscopy; red color). There is a primary X-ray maximum using the double arm spectrograph Intermediate Dispersion
concentric with the brighter cluster galaxy NGC 6041A (Huang Spectrograph and Imaging System (ISIS) with slightly different
& Sarazin 1996). Most Hα emitters are located around the sec- instrumental setups. In 2009 June, the dichroic splitting the
ondary X-ray maximum, in the regions of higher density of beam was set at 5300 Å and the gratings used were R300B
A2151 galaxies (indicated by the NASA Extragalactic Database and R158R, giving nominal dispersions of 0.86 Å pixel−1 and
(NED) position of the mass center; blue cross) within the central 1.82 Å pixel−1 , respectively, and a spectral coverage of ∼3600–
region <R200 of the Hercules cluster.9 Open squares mark the 9230 Å. In 2009 July, the dichroic was set at 5700 Å and
dwarf/irregular galaxies with radial velocity different from the the gratings used were R300B and R316R, giving respective
radial velocity of NGC 6041A ΔV larger than σV , the radial ve- dispersions 0.83 and 0.89 Å pixel−1 and a spectral coverage
locity dispersion10 of the Hercules cluster, i.e., abs(ΔV ) > σV , ∼3160–8263 Å. During both runs the CCD setup was the same:
a possible indication of an infalling population. We will further on the blue arm the EEV12 detector, providing a spatial scale
discuss this in Sections 5.1 and 5.3.1. 0.19 arcsec pixel−1 , and on the red arm the RED+ detector
sampling 0.22 arcsec pixel−1 . Observations at the INT were
8 Within the velocity range of the subclusters of A2151 defined in Bird et al. also performed during two observational runs, in 2008 June
(1995). and 2009 May, using the Intermediate Dispersion Spectrograph
200 = 1.4 Mpc for the Hercules cluster, following Finn et al. (2005;
9 R
Equation (8)). (IDS) with the EEV10 detector and R300V grating, giving a
10 The radial velocity dispersion of the Hercules cluster σ = 752 km s−1
V
nominal dispersion of 1.86 Å pixel−1 and a spatial scale of
(Bird et al. 1995). 0.4 arcsec pixel−1 . The total wavelength coverage free of

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Table 1
Log of Observations

Galaxy R.A. Decl. Date Tel. Range P.A. Exp.

J2000.0 J2000.0
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
PGC057185 16 06 48.2 17 38 51.6 2008 Jun 6 INT 3500–7730 13 3600
IC1173 16 05 12.6 17 25 22.3 2008 Jun 6 INT 3500–7730 45 3600
KUG1603+179A 16 05 30.6 17 46 07.2 2008 Jun 6 INT 3500–7730 30 4500
NGC 6050A,Ba 16 05 23.4 17 45 25.8 2008 Jun 6 INT 3500–7730 67b 3600
LEDA1543586 16 05 10.5 17 51 16.1 2008 Jun 7 INT 3500–7730 297 5300
NGC 6045 16 05 07.9 17 45 27.6 2008 Jun 7 INT 3500–7730 75 4500
KUG1602+174A 16 04 39.0 17 20 59.9 2008 Jun 7 INT 3500–7730 59b 5400
LEDA084719 16 05 07.1 17 38 57.8 2008 Jun 7 INT 3500–7730 67b 4200
PGC057077 16 05 34.2 17 46 11.8 2008 Jun 8 INT 3500–7730 297 4500
UGC10190 16 05 26.3 17 41 48.6 2008 Jun 8 INT 3500–7730 150 4500
LEDA140568 16 06 00.1 17 45 52.0 2008 Jun 8 INT 3500–7730 10 5400
[D97]ce-200 16 05 06.8 17 47 02.0 2008 Jun 8 INT 3500–7730 66b 5400
PGC057064 16 05 27.2 17 49 51.6 2008 Jun 9 INT 3500–7730 115 5400
LEDA084703 16 03 05.7 17 10 20.4 2008 Jun 9 INT 3500–7730 82 5400
KUG1602+175 16 04 45.4 17 26 54.3 2009 May 26 INT 3400–7630 315 3600
LEDA084710 16 04 20.4 17 26 11.2 2009 May 26 INT 3400–7630 105 3600
CGCG108–149 16 06 35.3 17 53 33.2 2009 May 26 INT 3400–7630 172 3600
KUG1602+174B 16 04 47.6 17 20 52.0 2009 May 26 INT 3400–7630 67 2400
LEDA084724 16 05 45.5 17 34 56.7 2009 Jun 26 WHT 3600–9230 0 3000
SDSS J160556.98+174304.1 16 05 57.0 17 43 04.1 2009 Jun 26 WHT 3600–9230 90 3600
[DKP87]160310.21+175956.7 16 05 25.0 17 51 50.6 2009 Jun 26 WHT 3600–9230 114 3600
SDSS J160524.27+175329.3 16 05 24.3 17 53 29.4 2009 Jun 27 WHT 3600–9230 102 3600
SDSS J160547.17+173501.6 16 05 47.2 17 35 01.7 2009 Jun 27 WHT 3600–9230 170 3600
SDSS J160523.66+174832.3 16 05 23.7 17 48 32.3 2009 Jun 27 WHT 3600–9230 140 3600
IC1182 16 05 36.8 17 48 07.5 2009 Jul 19 WHT 3160–8263 127 3000
IC1182:[S72]d 16 05 41.9 17 47 58.4 2009 Jul 19 WHT 3160–8263 96 3600
SDSS J150531.84+174826.1 16 05 31.8 17 48 26.2 2009 Jul 19 WHT 3160–8263 66 3600

Notes. Column 1: Galaxy name following Cedrés et al. (2009); Column 2: right ascension in hours, minutes, and seconds; Column 3:
declination in degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds; Column 4: observation date; Column 5: telescope used; Column 6: wavelength range
coverage in Å; Column 7: position angle in degrees; and Column 8: exposure time in seconds.
a This pair is also known as Arp 272.
b Observed at paralactic angle through airmass 1.3.

vignetting with this setup was ∼3400–7700 Å. In both ISIS and was successful, as can be seen in the spectra shown in Figure A1
IDS spectra the slit width was set to 1.5 arcsec. The orientation of in the Appendix.
the slit, as listed in Table 1, was selected to cover the maximum From the 2D frames an integrated 1D spectrum was produced
surface of the Hα emission detected by Cedrés et al. (2009), with for those galaxies showing no significant spatial structure.
a few exceptions that were observed on the paralactic angle. Conversely, for galaxies showing rich spatial structure, their
2D spectrum is divided into 1D spectra corresponding to their
2.3. Data Reduction different sub-regions. For these galaxies, in Figure A2 in the
Appendix we show g − i color maps produced using SDSS
The spectra were reduced in the standard manner using IRAF images and Hα equivalent-width (EW) maps using our data,
routines. First, the two-dimensional (2D) spectra were bias with the precise position of the slit overplotted on both maps.
subtracted and flat-field corrected. For this, dome flat exposures We also give the spatial profiles of the Hα line and the nearby
were used to remove pixel-to-pixel variations in response. continuum emission along the slit position extracted from the 2D
Wavelength calibration was achieved using spectra of CuNe spectra. On these profiles the different galaxy parts considered
and CuAr comparison lamps, reaching an accuracy of ∼0.3 Å in our analysis are highlighted. All the 1D spectra extracted in
for IDS and less than 0.1 Å for ISIS spectra. Several exposures this study are presented in Figure A1 in the Appendix.
were taken for each object in order to remove cosmic ray hits.
The spectra were corrected for atmospheric extinction using an 3. SPECTRAL SYNTHESIS MODEL FITTING
extinction curve for ORM (King 1985) and all observing nights
were photometric, according to Carlsberg Meridian Telescope We use the population synthesis code STARLIGHT to fit
records. Enough slit length free of any object permitted an spectral synthesis models to all our spectra and compute some
adequate sky subtraction. For the flux calibration, during the characteristic properties of the underlying stellar component
observational runs each night at least three spectrophotometric as the luminosity-weighted and mass-weighted stellar age and
standard stars were observed, varying in color, except during metallicity (see, e.g., Asari et al. 2007). We also use the model
2009 June 26 and 27 when we observed two and one stars, fits to correct our spectra for underlying stellar absorption. Our
respectively. The expected spectrophotometric error is estimated galaxy sample spans a considerable range in its emission-line
as 10% (2008 June), 8% (2009 May), 3% (2009 June), and 2% properties, from systems with Balmer emission lines with large
(2009 July). ISIS matching between red and blue arm spectra EWs to systems where the Hβ is just detectable above a high

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 3. Typical example of spectral synthesis with STARLIGHT for the galaxy KUG1602+175. The left panel shows the observed, normalized spectrum (orange
color) with the best-fitting synthetic spectrum overlaid (blue color). Flagged intervals in each spectrum are marked with shaded vertical bars. The smaller panels to
the upper right and lower right show the age distribution of the SSPs evaluated by STARLIGHT as a function of, respectively, their luminosity and mass fraction in
percent. Thin vertical lines in the upper right panel indicate the ages of the library SSPs. The shaded area in the lower diagram shows the smoothed Mi distribution
and is meant as a schematic illustration of the SFH.
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

level of stellar continuum. Especially in the latter cases, an accu- SSP library used is based on stellar models by Bruzual &
rate correction for underlying stellar absorption is crucial. The Charlot (2003) for a Salpeter IMF for three metallicities (Z /5,
usual practice of adopting an EWabs of ∼2 Å for stellar Balmer Z /2.5, and Z )11 and 59 ages (between 0.25 Myr and 13 Gyr).
lines, though generally justifiable, bears the risk of introduc- Output of the model is the list of those SSPs with a mass
ing significant systematic errors in the analysis of systems with contribution Mi > 0 (%) and their luminosity contribution Li
faint emission lines. This is because the exact value for EWabs (%) to the wavelength interval to which the input spectra have
depends on the stellar population mixture, i.e., the SFH of a been normalized (5100–5300 Å here).
galaxy. For example, Gonzalez Delgado et al. (1999) infer for Prior to modeling, the observed spectra were de-redshifted
a single stellar population (SSP) a monotonous increase of the and resampled to 1 Å pixel−1 . Additionally, emission lines and
EWabs for the Balmer Hβ through Hδ lines from 3 Å at an residuals from the night sky subtraction were identified and in-
age 3 Myr to >10 Å at ages ∼0.5 Gyr, followed by a de- teractively flagged using a code we developed. Throughout, we
crease for older ages. SF galaxies, consisting of different SSPs preferred not to correct the input spectra for intrinsic extinction
of young to intermediate age, in addition to a (significantly) or to strongly constrain its allowed range in the STARLIGHT
older underlying host galaxy, likely follow a considerably more models for two reasons. First, the extinction coefficient C(Hβ)
complex time evolution in their luminosity-weighted EWabs . computed prior to correction of Balmer emission-line fluxes
This issue has been explored in much detail by, e.g., Guseva for underlying stellar absorption is, especially for galaxies with
et al. (2001), who have considered a variety of SFHs and mass faint nebular emission, uncertain. An a priori de-reddening of
proportions between the young and older stellar components in the input spectra using this approximate C(Hβ) value would
SF dwarf galaxies. Obviously, for systems with low emission- therefore yield no advantage toward reliability and computa-
line EWs, improper correction for underlying stellar absorption tional expense. For the same reason, and in order to minimize
may propagate significant errors in, e.g., the intrinsic extinc- biases in the STARLIGHT solutions, we have allowed the in-
tion or spectroscopic classification using BPT (Baldwin et al. trinsic extinction to vary between +4.5 and −0.7 V mag. The
1981) diagrams. For example, for an intermediate luminosity- allowance for a negative AV is justified by possible uncertainties
weighted age of 0.2–0.6 Gyr, where Balmer EWabs are largest, in flux calibration, the (partial) coverage of the physical spatial
the underestimation of Balmer line fluxes due to incomplete cor- area of the galaxy, and the incompleteness of the SSP library.
rection for underlying stellar absorption may shift an SF galaxy As evident in Table 2, solutions with AV  0 are the exception
on the log([O iii] λ5007/Hβ) versus log([N ii] λ6583/Hα) BPT in our analysis. Second, fixing the intrinsic extinction in the
diagram into the zone of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). STARLIGHT models to the observed C(Hβ) would imply that
The determination of the EWabs may be carried out by ionized gas and stars are subject to equal extinction. No com-
simultaneous fitting of two Gaussians to each emission and pelling evidence exists for this as yet. On the other hand, for the
absorption Balmer line profile. Another adequate, and arguably sake of simplicity and to keep computational time low, we have
more efficient, technique for correcting for underlying stellar throughout assumed a single foreground extinction model, al-
absorption is the fitting and subsequent subtraction of the though provision is given in STARLIGHT to solve for a different
observed spectrum of a synthetic stellar spectrum in order to extinction in the young (10 Myr) and older stellar populations.
isolate the net nebular line emission fluxes. To this end, we used A typical example of the spectral synthesis for a galaxy
the population synthesis code STARLIGHT (Cid Fernandes with relatively faint nebular emission in our sample is shown
et al. 2004, 2005a, 2005b; Garcia-Rissmann et al. 2005). This in Figure 3. The left panel shows the observed, normalized
code synthesizes the observed stellar continuum as due to the 11The solar metallicity is assumed Z = 0.019, which is translated to an
superposition of SSPs of different ages and metallicities. The oxygen abundance 12 + log(O/H) = 8.69 (Asplund et al. 2009).

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Table 2
STARLIGHT Output

Galaxy Z,L Z,M τ,L τ,M AV

(Gyr) (Gyr) (mag)
PGC05185a 0.014 ± 0.008 0.012 ± 0.008 0.94 ± 0.30 1.08 ± 0.28 0.98
PGC05185b 0.009 ± 0.005 0.007 ± 0.004 2.02 ± 1.02 7.28 ± 3.07 1.68
PGC05185c 0.014 ± 0.007 0.009 ± 0.004 2.64 ± 1.24 8.54 ± 2.07 1.32
IC1173a 0.016 ± 0.006 0.019 ± 0.009 7.73 ± 1.92 11.10 ± 0.80 −0.21
IC1173e 0.018 ± 0.009 0.016 ± 0.007 2.09 ± 0.72 5.66 ± 1.86 0.63
KUG1603+179Aa 0.014 ± 0.007 0.012 ± 0.005 3.69 ± 1.35 6.60 ± 1.81 −0.56
KUG1603+179Ab 0.015 ± 0.006 0.018 ± 0.011 7.27 ± 2.25 11.62 ± 0.76 0.91
KUG1603+179Ac 0.012 ± 0.004 0.008 ± 0.005 4.80 ± 1.98 11.07 ± 0.77 1.09
NGC 6050Aa 0.011 ± 0.004 0.014 ± 0.005 8.10 ± 1.93 11.36 ± 0.58 0.47
NGC 6050Ab 0.013 ± 0.003 0.012 ± 0.005 5.67 ± 1.87 11.58 ± 0.54 0.41
NGC 6050B 0.007 ± 0.002 0.004 ± 0.002 5.82 ± 1.35 8.54 ± 0.97 −0.12
LEDA1543586 0.006 ± 0.002 0.008 ± 0.003 1.98 ± 0.91 6.66 ± 1.71 0.42
NGC 6045a 0.015 ± 0.005 0.018 ± 0.010 4.87 ± 1.94 10.82 ± 1.20 0.57
NGC 6045b 0.013 ± 0.004 0.017 ± 0.008 5.42 ± 1.74 10.10 ± 1.31 0.27
NGC 6045c 0.016 ± 0.008 0.017 ± 0.013 8.30 ± 2.45 12.68 ± 0.28 2.13
NGC 6045d 0.013 ± 0.005 0.015 ± 0.008 4.25 ± 1.78 11.14 ± 1.38 1.33
NGC 6045e 0.011 ± 0.007 0.010 ± 0.008 1.06 ± 0.30 2.71 ± 1.60 0.93
KUG1602+174A 0.007 ± 0.002 0.008 ± 0.003 4.66 ± 1.34 8.34 ± 0.87 0.19
LEDA084719 0.008 ± 0.004 0.012 ± 0.004 4.45 ± 1.41 8.34 ± 1.53 0.15
PGC057077a 0.013 ± 0.006 0.018 ± 0.017 4.24 ± 2.86 12.03 ± 1.19 3.23
PGC057077b 0.014 ± 0.009 0.013 ± 0.008 1.75 ± 0.41 2.10 ± 0.60 −0.70
UGC10190a 0.007 ± 0.003 0.005 ± 0.002 3.43 ± 1.46 8.14 ± 1.91 0.22
UGC10190b 0.007 ± 0.002 0.006 ± 0.002 5.85 ± 1.22 10.04 ± 0.71 0.79
UGC10190c 0.014 ± 0.005 0.009 ± 0.005 5.45 ± 2.16 11.63 ± 0.64 0.82
LEDA140568 0.008 ± 0.004 0.006 ± 0.003 0.86 ± 0.45 4.84 ± 2.17 0.56
D97ce200 0.007 ± 0.003 0.008 ± 0.005 0.73 ± 0.25 1.09 ± 0.11 0.33
PGC057064a 0.014 ± 0.005 0.017 ± 0.008 5.06 ± 1.36 8.13 ± 0.85 0.74
PGC057064b 0.011 ± 0.004 0.017 ± 0.007 6.56 ± 1.75 10.52 ± 0.80 0.36
LEDA084703int 0.009 ± 0.002 0.009 ± 0.002 1.22 ± 0.26 2.42 ± 0.50 0.31
LEDA084703a 0.007 ± 0.005 0.008 ± 0.007 0.71 ± 0.26 1.00 ± 0.02 −0.34
LEDA084703b 0.009 ± 0.003 0.012 ± 0.004 1.97 ± 0.52 5.93 ± 1.60 0.50
LEDA084703c 0.009 ± 0.005 0.008 ± 0.005 0.94 ± 0.29 1.75 ± 0.63 0.43
KUG1602+175 0.013 ± 0.006 0.017 ± 0.007 3.76 ± 1.54 9.74 ± 1.55 0.55
LEDA084710 0.015 ± 0.007 0.017 ± 0.008 2.86 ± 1.24 9.05 ± 2.05 1.02
CGCG108-149 0.018 ± 0.008 0.019 ± 0.010 7.68 ± 2.46 11.11 ± 1.08 0.40
KUG1602+174B 0.016 ± 0.007 0.018 ± 0.008 2.91 ± 1.11 7.76 ± 1.31 0.48
LEDA084724 0.007 ± 0.003 0.008 ± 0.003 3.15 ± 1.24 7.57 ± 0.92 0.37
SDSSJ160556.98+174304.1 0.008 ± 0.006 0.008 ± 0.007 0.82 ± 0.49 1.26 ± 0.21 0.61
[DKP87]160310.21+175956.7 0.006 ± 0.001 0.006 ± 0.002 3.11 ± 1.48 7.72 ± 0.69 0.31
SDSSJ160524.27+175329.3 0.004 ± 0.004 0.004 ± 0.004 1.06 ± 0.21 1.06 ± 0.10 −0.01
SDSSJ160523.66+174832.3 0.007 ± 0.004 0.004 ± 0.002 2.25 ± 0.99 6.16 ± 2.52 0.38
IC1182 0.012 ± 0.004 0.014 ± 0.008 6.37 ± 1.97 11.56 ± 0.88 1.47
IC1182:[S72]d 0.019 ± 0.011 0.018 ± 0.011 1.92 ± 1.49 11.51 ± 0.76 0.42
SDSSJ160531.84+174826.1 0.007 ± 0.003 0.008 ± 0.004 6.11 ± 2.46 11.10 ± 1.13 1.11
SDSSJ160304.20+171126.7 0.007 ± 0.002 0.006 ± 0.002 3.88 ± 0.71 5.78 ± 0.63 0.48
SDSSJ160520.58+175210.6 0.008 ± 0.003 0.008 ± 0.003 5.76 ± 0.65 7.11 ± 0.46 0.50

Notes. The luminosity-weighted and mass-weighted stellar metallicity (e.g., the mass fraction of metals over H, where the solar value is
assumed to be Z = 0.019) Z,L and Z,M and stellar age τ,L and τ,M along with the standard deviations and the intrinsic extinction
AV of the stellar component as given by fitting STARLIGHT models.

spectrum (orange color) with the best-fitting synthetic spectrum corrected emission-line fluxes, as measured from the observed
overlaid (blue color). Flagged intervals in each spectrum are spectra after subtraction of the synthetic stellar spectra, are listed
marked with shaded vertical bars. The smaller panels to the in Table 3 (see Section 4 for a detailed discussion).
upper right and lower right show the age distribution of the Although an elaborate study of the SFH of the sample galaxies
SSPs evaluated by STARLIGHT as a function of, respectively, is beyond the scope of this paper, we took advantage of the
their luminosity and mass fraction in percent. Thin vertical lines STARLIGHT models to compute some characteristic properties
in the upper right panel indicate the ages of the library SSPs. of our sample galaxies. These include the luminosity-weighted
The shaded area in the lower diagram shows the smoothed Mi and mass-weighted metallicity Z,L and Z,M and stellar age
distribution and is meant as a schematic illustration of the SFH. τ,L and τ,M along with their standard deviations (see, e.g.,
It may be seen from the left panel that synthetic spectra fit broad Asari et al. 2007). These quantities and the intrinsic extinction
stellar absorption features well, thus permitting an adequate AV of the stellar component are listed in Table 2 and will be
determination and correction for underlying absorption. The further discussed in Section 5.

6
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Table 3
Reddening-Corrected Line Fluxes

Line f (λ) PGC057185 IC1173

a b c a b c
3727 [O ii] 0.271 305 ± 20 231 ± 5 239 ± 53 206 ± 37 991 ± 131 118 ± 9
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 ... ... ... ... ... ...
3889 He i + H8 0.233 ... ... ... ... ... ...
3968 [Ne iii] + H7... 0.216 ... ... ... ... ... ...
4069 [S ii] 0.195 ... ... ... ... ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 ... 26 ± 5 ... ... ... ...
4340 Hγ 0.142 50 ± 16 47 ± 8 ... ... ... 48 ± 2
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 8 100 ± 9 100 ± 18 100 ± 13 100 ± 12 100 ± 7
4959 [O iii] −0.024 ... 12 ± 2 ... ... ... ...
5007 [O iii] −0.035 57 ± 4 36 ± 2 54 ± 10 25 ± 15 236 ± 18 88 ± 6
5876 He i −0.209 ... 11 ± 1 ... ... ... ...
6300 [O i] −0.276 21 ± 5 16 ± 1 ... ... 71 ± 15 ...
6548 [N ii] −0.311 31 ± 3 39 ± 6 30 ± 7 62 ± 11 180 ± 26 ...
6563 Hα −0.313 302 ± 14 294 ± 8 282 ± 54 285 ± 40 285 ± 41 287 ± 15
6584 [N ii] −0.316 85 ± 5 113 ± 7 94 ± 18 140 ± 21 492 ± 68 103 ± 10
6717 [S ii] −0.334 64 ± 4 46 ± 4 50 ± 11 38 ± 7 157 ± 24 84 ± 3
6731 [S ii] −0.336 55 ± 4 41 ± 4 44 ± 11 54 ± 19 152 ± 24 63 ± 8
F(Hβ) 4.8 ± 0.4 15.7 ± 1.5 2.1 ± 0.4 1.7 ± 0.2 2.3 ± 0.3 2.2 ± 0.2
EW(Hβ) 6.5 ± 0.8 5.5 ± 0.6 3.0 ± 0.6 1.9 ± 0.3 1.6 ± 0.4 8.1 ± 1.6
c(Hβ) 0.70 ± 0.06 1.09 ± 0.02 1.29 ± 0.26 1.02 ± 0.19 0.96 ± 0.19 −0.21 ± 0.29
Velocity 11403 ± 27 11204 ± 19 11122 ± 30 10617 ± 15 11204 ± 19 10248 ± 44

Note. F(Hβ) in 10−16 erg s−1 cm−2 Å−1 ; EW(Hβ) in Å; velocity in km s−1 .

Table 3
(Continued)

Line f (λ) KUG1603 + 179A NGC 6050A NGC 6050B

a b c a b
3727 [O ii] 0.271 205 ± 5 133 ± 11 172 ± 7 151 ± 16 128 ± 15 176 ± 45
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 ... ... ... ... ... ...
3889 He i + H8 0.233 ... ... 24 ± 1 ... 35 ± 2 ...
3968 [Ne iii] + H7... 0.216 17 ± 3 ... ... ... 18 ± 2 ...
4069 [S ii] 0.195 14 ± 2 ... ... ... ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 25 ± 4 ... 28 ± 5 ... 27 ± 8 ...
4340 Hγ 0.142 46 ± 2 41 ± 5 49 ± 2 ... 43 ± 8 48 ± 11
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 3 100 ± 3 100 ± 3 100 ± 10 100 ± 3 100 ± 5
4959 [O iii] −0.024 ... 13 ± 3 17 ± 3 ... ... 38 ± 6
5007 [O iii] −0.035 43 ± 2 37 ± 4 48 ± 2 61 ± 5 33 ± 3 107 ± 6
5876 He i −0.209 12 ± 2 ... 9 ± 1 ... ... ...
6300 [O i] −0.276 8 ± 1 16 ± 2 ... 41 ± 6 5 ± 1 ...
6548 [N ii] −0.311 36 ± 2 44 ± 5 40 ± 1 53 ± 8 34 ± 3 ...
6563 Hα −0.313 279 ± 4 261 ± 23 306 ± 10 286 ± 38 285 ± 15 293 ± 9
6584 [N ii] −0.316 105 ± 2 148 ± 13 116 ± 4 184 ± 23 100 ± 6 82 ± 7
6717 [S ii] −0.334 46 ± 1 36 ± 4 47 ± 2 36 ± 7 37 ± 3 45 ± 4
6731 [S ii] −0.336 39 ± 1 47 ± 5 38 ± 2 69 ± 11 36 ± 3 65 ± 10
F(Hβ) 11.2 ± 0.4 16.0 ± 0.5 14.4 ± 0.5 8.0 ± 0.8 10.2 ± 0.4 7.7 ± 0.4
EW(Hβ) 9.3 ± 0.7 4.9 ± 0.3 10.4 ± 0.7 2.6 ± 0.3 15.1 ± 1.5 4.9 ± 0.5
c(Hβ) 0.49 ± 0.02 1.25 ± 0.12 0.35 ± 0.05 0.32 ± 0.17 0.57 ± 0.07 0.16 ± 0.03
Velocity 11280 ± 30 11162 ± 20 11121 ± 17 9524 ± 38 9686 ± 37 11134 ± 39

4. RESULTS and the standard deviation as the flux measurement and the
corresponding statistical error.
4.1. Line Fluxes The reddening coefficients c(Hβ) were calculated adopting
Line fluxes were measured in the spectra after subtracting the the galactic extinction law of Miller & Mathews (1972) with
best-fitting spectral energy distribution (SED) of the underlying RV = 3.2, as presented in Hägele et al. (2008), using the
stellar population (see Section 3) using the splot task of iraf. expression
Line fluxes were measured integrating the flux under the line    
I (λ) F (λ)
profile over a linearly fitted continuum. In order to account for log = log + c(Hβ)f (λ), (1)
the main source of error in our data, driven by the continuum I (Hβ) F (Hβ)
placement, five independent measurements of the emission-line where I (λ)/I (Hβ) is the theoretical and F (λ)/F (Hβ) is the
flux were carried out for each line, and we assumed the mean observed Balmer decrement. The theoretical Balmer decrement

7
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Table 3
(Continued)

Line f (λ) LEDA1543586 NGC 6045

a b c d e
3727 [O ii] 0.271 281 ± 4 334 ± 21 214 ± 8 141 ± 12 152 ± 9 310 ± 5
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 ... ... ... ... ... ...
3889 He i + H8 0.233 ... ... ... ... ... ...
3968 [Ne iii] + H7... 0.216 ... ... ... ... 19 ± 4 ...
4069 [S ii] 0.195 ... ... ... ... ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 ... ... ... ... 25 ± 6 ...
4340 Hγ 0.142 46 ± 8 45 ± 6 47 ± 5 ... 49 ± 3 48 ± 9
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 2 100 ± 8 100 ± 1 100 ± 6 100 ± 4 100 ± 5
4959 [O iii] −0.024 103 ± 4 ... ... ... ... 20 ± 4
5007 [O iii] −0.035 310 ± 4 40 ± 8 35 ± 3 44 ± 2 19 ± 1 65 ± 3
5876 He i −0.209 ... ... ... ... 8 ± 1 8 ± 1
6300 [O i] −0.276 22 ± 2 ... ... ... 14 ± 2 23 ± 1
6548 [N ii] −0.311 17 ± 4 44 ± 5 42 ± 1 ... 31 ± 1 37 ± 2
6563 Hα −0.313 286 ± 4 280 ± 7 288 ± 2 287 ± 20 288 ± 10 292 ± 6
6584 [N ii] −0.316 44 ± 5 118 ± 6 109 ± 3 203 ± 16 92 ± 3 110 ± 3
6717 [S ii] −0.334 46 ± 2 46 ± 3 37 ± 2 38 ± 4 28 ± 1 51 ± 1
6731 [S ii] −0.336 29 ± 2 44 ± 4 27 ± 3 44 ± 3 22 ± 1 38 ± 1
F(Hβ) 6.9 ± 0.1 5.2 ± 0.4 8.5 ± 0.1 5.4 ± 0.3 17.2 ± 0.7 15.4 ± 0.7
EW(Hβ) 8.9 ± 1.0 3.0 ± 0.3 3.3 ± 0.1 2.1 ± 0.2 7.9 ± 0.4 5.7 ± 0.4
c(Hβ) 0.17 ± 0.01 1.05 ± 0.03 1.04 ± 0.01 0.18 ± 0.09 0.96 ± 0.05 0.94 ± 0.02
Velocity 9849 ± 13 10284 ± 11 10335 ± 12 9830 ± 71 9703 ± 15 9789 ± 23

Table 3
(Continued)

Line f (λ) KUG1602 + 174A LEDA084719 PGC057077 UGC10190

a b a b c
3727 [O ii] 0.271 175 ± 10 318 ± 97 328 ± 17 165 ± 3 241 ± 36 182 ± 18 230 ± 52
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
3889 He i + H8 0.233 55 ± 8 ... ... 13 ± 1 ... ... ...
3968 [Ne iii] + H7... 0.216 ... ... ... 23 ± 2 ... ... ...
4069 [S ii] 0.195 ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 ... ... 26 ± 4 25 ± 2 ... ... ...
4340 Hγ 0.142 43 ± 5 ... 42 ± 2 45 ± 1 ... 43 ± 8 46 ± 18
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 5 100 ± 8 100 ± 5 100 ± 1 100 ± 6 100 ± 7 100 ± 10
4959 [O iii] −0.024 ... 48 ± 11 ... 20 ± 1 ... ... 24 ± 3
5007 [O iii] −0.035 25 ± 7 ... 63 ± 3 55 ± 1 36 ± 2 24 ± 3 79 ± 3
5876 He i −0.209 ... ... 12 ± 2 13 ± 1 ... ... ...
6300 [O i] −0.276 14 ± 2 ... 14 ± 3 6 ± 1 ... ... ...
6548 [N ii] −0.311 31 ± 3 46 ± 7 36 ± 2 33 ± 1 35 ± 11 32 ± 4 ...
6563 Hα −0.313 272 ± 14 286 ± 23 277 ± 13 277 ± 5 286 ± 18 272 ± 14 282 ± 7
6584 [N ii] −0.316 99 ± 6 112 ± 12 103 ± 5 93 ± 2 111 ± 8 98 ± 7 73 ± 6
6717 [S ii] −0.334 49 ± 4 42 ± 5 38 ± 2 34 ± 1 64 ± 5 60 ± 5 90 ± 8
6731 [S ii] −0.336 41 ± 5 40 ± 7 31 ± 2 27 ± 1 83 ± 7 38 ± 3 64 ± 5
F(Hβ) 5.9 ± 0.3 2.7 ± 0.2 5.9 ± 0.3 52.0 ± 0.5 1.4 ± 0.1 7.2 ± 0.5 1.9 ± 0.2
EW(Hβ) 4.1 ± 0.3 1.7 ± 0.2 7.8 ± 0.6 17.3 ± 0.7 3.5 ± 0.4 4.1 ± 0.3 6.8 ± 1.2
c(Hβ) 0.54 ± 0.07 1.24 ± 0.11 2.14 ± 0.07 0.13 ± 0.02 0.55 ± 0.09 0.61 ± 0.07 0.08 ± 0.02
Velocity 10614 ± 18 10155 ± 14 10209 ± 15 10200 ± 14 11171 ± 30 11046 ± 13 10915 ± 25

depends on electron temperature and density, and we used the uncertainties in the line flux measurement and in the extinction
data for Case B assuming low-density limit and 10,000 K (Storey coefficient. Table 3 also presents the Hβ flux not corrected for
& Hummer 1995). In those cases in which we measured at extinction and EW, as well as the galaxy recessional velocity,
least three Balmer lines with signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) > 5 as derived by our spectroscopic data. The Hβ EW quoted was
we have performed a least-squares fit to derive c(Hβ), and determined from the net emission spectrum, i.e., the observed
the corresponding error was taken to be the uncertainty of the spectrum after subtraction of the best-fitting stellar SED, and
fit. When only Hα and Hβ were available, c(Hβ) was derived the level of the adjacent continuum in the original spectrum.
applying expression (1) and its error was calculated as the rms Figure 4 shows the extinction of the gas-phase component
of a Gaussian error distribution produced by a random sampling AV ,gas = 2.18 × c(Hβ) as a function of the intrinsic extinction
simulation, taking into account the errors in the line fluxes of of the stellar component derived by STARLIGHT in the previ-
Hα and Hβ. ous section. A linear fit, considering (the reliable range; see
Reddening-corrected line fluxes and reddening coefficients Section 3) AV ,star > −0.1 and weighted by the errors
c(Hβ) are presented in Table 3. The errors quoted account for the of the c(Hβ) estimation, yields the relation AV ,gas =

8
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Table 3
(Continued)

Line f (λ) LEDA140568 [D97]ce-200 PGC057064 LEDA084703

a b Int a
3727 [O ii] 0.271 314 ± 20 326 ± 23 256 ± 23 636 ± 21 331 ± 5 339 ± 10
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 44 ± 9 ... ... ... 22 ± 1 22 ± 2
3889 He i + H8 0.233 ... ... ... ... 22 ± 1 15 ± 2
3968 [Ne iii] + H7 0.216 ... ... ... ... 18 ± 1 20 ± 3
4069 [S ii] 0.195 ... ... ... 44 ± 8 ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 ... ... ... ... 26 ± 2 27 ± 2
4340 Hγ 0.142 47 ± 10 46 ± 3 ... 46 ± 8 49 ± 1 49 ± 1
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 6 100 ± 8 100 ± 7 100 ± 5 100 ± 1 100 ± 1
4959 [O iii] −0.024 70 ± 4 53 ± 6 ... 41 ± 10 57 ± 3 61 ± 2
5007 [O iii] −0.035 214 ± 5 163 ± 4 45 ± 4 134 ± 8 177 ± 1 187 ± 2
5876 He i −0.209 ... ... ... ... 14 ± 1 14 ± 2
6300 [O i] −0.276 ... 20 ± 1 13 ± 4 16 ± 2 14 ± 1 12 ± 1
6548 [N ii] −0.311 ... 12 ± 3 44 ± 4 56 ± 3 16 ± 2 11 ± 2
6563 Hα −0.313 286 ± 20 286 ± 2 286 ± 19 282 ± 6 292 ± 6 219a
6584 [N ii] −0.316 16 ± 5 35 ± 2 126 ± 10 155 ± 5 43 ± 2 31 ± 1
6717 [S ii] −0.334 39 ± 3 60 ± 1 48 ± 4 77 ± 5 55 ± 2 39 ± 2
6731 [S ii] −0.336 23 ± 3 51 ± 1 27 ± 2 64 ± 6 40 ± 2 29 ± 1
F(Hβ) 4.1 ± 0.3 3.8 ± 0.3 6.0 ± 0.4 5.5 ± 0.3 30.2 ± 0.2 9.2 ± 0.1
EW(Hβ) 10.4 ± 10.1 9.7 ± 1.4 2.9 ± 0.2 1.7 ± 0.1 14.4 ± 0.8 17.1 ± 1.5
c(Hβ) −0.03 ± 0.09 0.10 ± 0.01 0.96 ± 0.09 1.04 ± 0.02 0.25 ± 0.03 0.00 ± 0.05
Velocity 11992 ± 25 9915 ± 8 10308 ± 24 10048 ± 21 10033 ± 6 10008 ± 4

Note. a Uncertain value.

Table 3
(Continued)

Line f (λ) LEDA084703 KUG1602 + 175 LEDA084710 CGCG108−149 KUG1602 + 174B

b c
3727 [O ii] 0.271 360 ± 8 514 ± 10 159 ± 12 361 ± 110 159 ± 53 164 ± 18
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 21 ± 2 ... ... ... ... ...
3889 He i + H8 0.233 12 ± 7 ... ... ... ... ...
3968 [Ne iii] + H7 0.216 ... ... 22 ± 4 ... ... ...
4069 [S ii] 0.195 ... ... ... ... ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 24 ± 1 ... 25 ± 3 ... ... ...
4340 Hγ 0.142 47 ± 1 47 ± 8 47 ± 5 ... ... 46 ± 7
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 1 100 ± 2 100 ± 8 100 ± 11 100 ± 17 100 ± 6
4959 [O iii] −0.024 57 ± 1 44 ± 2 ... ... ... ...
5007 [O iii] −0.035 186 ± 2 131 ± 3 56 ± 7 82 ± 9 53 ± 4 50 ± 5
5876 He i −0.209 13 ± 2 11 ± 1 ... 7 ± 4 ... ...
6300 [O i] −0.276 13 ± 1 20 ± 5 ... 15 ± 4 ... ...
6548 [N ii] −0.311 14 ± 1 20 ± 1 37 ± 2 30 ± 5 ... 34 ± 6
6563 Hα −0.313 280 ± 7 290 ± 3 282 ± 7 285 ± 34 283 ± 52 283 ± 6
6584 [N ii] −0.316 42 ± 1 49 ± 2 103 ± 6 89 ± 12 165 ± 32 97 ± 5
6717 [S ii] −0.334 48 ± 1 84 ± 2 45 ± 3 63 ± 9 50 ± 14 55 ± 4
6731 [S ii] −0.336 38 ± 1 48 ± 2 23 ± 4 36 ± 6 54 ± 15 44 ± 4
F(Hβ) 17.0 ± 0.0 3.7 ± 0.1 27.2 ± 2.1 10.0 ± 1.1 4.1 ± 0.7 11.6 ± 0.7
EW(Hβ) 16.5 ± 0.8 6.2 ± 0.6 4.2 ± 0.4 3.3 ± 0.5 1.4 ± 0.2 4.8 ± 0.5
c(Hβ) 0.59 ± 0.03 0.50 ± 0.01 0.45 ± 0.03 1.18 ± 0.16 1.16 ± 0.25 0.48 ± 0.02
Velocity 10032 ± 11 10087 ± 16 10574 ± 20 10781 ± 32 11121 ± 15 10622 ± 15

0.81 + 0.89AV ,star . We find that stars suffer less extinction than the central 3 arcsec of the galaxy; for three galaxies, NGC 6050,
gas; this can be explained if the dust has a larger covering fac- NGC 6045, and PGC057064, SDSS provides two different aper-
tor for the ionized gas than for the stars (Calzetti et al. 1994). tures on each of them. We applied the same procedure to these
In the same line are recent results presented by Monreal-Ibero spectra as to our spatially resolved spectra, removing the con-
et al. (2010) and Alonso-Herrero et al. (2010), who explore the tinuum emission by fitting STARLIGHT and measuring line
relation between the extinction suffered by the gas and by the fluxes on the subtracted emission-line spectrum as described in
stellar populations in the central regions of SF galaxies using Sections 3 and 4.1. We then compared these line fluxes with our
integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopic data. line fluxes for 19 galaxies for which we have ORM long-slit
spectra. We checked first whether the SDSS aperture position
4.2. Comparison with Previous Data matches the long-slit locus and then extracted the spectrum
SDSS spectroscopic data exist for 22 out of the 43 SF galaxies from the corresponding area of the long slit. The comparison
of the C09 sample. In most of the cases the SDSS fiber covers is shown in Figure 5 where the principal emission lines are

9
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Table 3
(Continued)

Line f (λ) LEDA084724 SDSS J160556.98 [DKP87]160310.21 SDSS J160524.27 SDSS J160523.66
3727 [O ii] 0.271 493 ± 14 317 ± 19 281 ± 13 214 ± 13 405 ± 5
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 ... 21 ± 6 ... 30 ± 3 ...
3889 He i + H8 0.233 ... 19 ± 6 ... 16 ± 2 ...
3968 [Ne iii] + H7... 0.216 ... 36 ± 5 ... 28 ± 2 ...
4069 [S ii] 0.195 ... ... ... ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 ... 25 ± 3 ... 30 ± 3 ...
4340 Hγ 0.142 49 ± 6 47 ± 4 46 ± 5 49 ± 5 47 ± 3
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 8 100 ± 6 100 ± 8 100 ± 3 100 ± 4
4959 [O iii] −0.024 ... 95 ± 4 ... 114 ± 3 ...
5007 [O iii] −0.035 91 ± 5 282 ± 4 47 ± 3 337 ± 4 69 ± 8
5876 He i −0.209 ... 10 ± 1 ... 13 ± 2 ...
6300 [O i] −0.276 ... 16 ± 4 ... 10 ± 1 ...
6548 [N ii] −0.311 ... ... 27 ± 2 ... 29 ± 8
6563 Hα −0.313 296 ± 13 280 ± 7 284 ± 4 320 ± 21 289 ± 2
6584 [N ii] −0.316 62 ± 8 27 ± 6 75 ± 3 13 ± 2 61 ± 2
6717 [S ii] −0.334 74 ± 8 40 ± 2 72 ± 2 35 ± 3 72 ± 3
6731 [S ii] −0.336 50 ± 6 27 ± 2 66 ± 4 22 ± 2 64 ± 3
F(Hβ) 3.8 ± 0.3 9.6 ± 0.5 3.6 ± 0.3 6.6 ± 0.2 2.0 ± 0.1
EW(Hβ) 2.7 ± 0.4 18.1 ± 2.3 4.4 ± 0.5 19.3 ± 1.9 3.6 ± 0.4
c(Hβ) 0.43 ± 0.04 0.57 ± 0.03 0.09 ± 0.01 0.03 ± 0.09 0.25 ± 0.01
Velocity 11714 ± 60 11621 ± 24 10308 ± 56 11101 ± 38 10337 ± 35

Table 3
(Continued)

Line f (λ) IC1182 IC1182:[S72]d SDSS J150531.84 SDSS J160304.20 SDSS J160520.58
3727 [O ii] 0.271 379 ± 22 399 ± 9 74 ± 4 455 ± 26 108 ± 30
3869 [Ne iii] 0.238 23 ± 2 35 ± 1 ... ... ...
3889 He i + H8 0.233 21 ± 2 20 ± 2 ... ... ...
3968 [Ne iii] + H7... 0.216 24 ± 3 24 ± 3 ... ... ...
4069 [S ii] 0.195 ... ... ... ... ...
4102 Hδ 0.188 30 ± 2 27 ± 1 ... ... ...
4340 Hγ 0.142 48 ± 2 47 ± 3 ... 44 ± 3 46 ± 4
4861 Hβ 0.00 100 ± 2 100 ± 2 100 ± 5 100 ± 2 100 ± 10
4959 [O iii] −0.024 73 ± 2 87 ± 1 ... ... ...
5007 [O iii] −0.035 218 ± 4 253 ± 2 96 ± 3 66 ± 4 11 ± 3
5876 He i −0.209 11 ± 1 ... ... ... ...
6300 [O i] −0.276 36 ± 3 14 ± 1 18 ± 2 11 ± 1 ...
6548 [N ii] −0.311 ... 13 ± 1 ... 24 ± 2 35 ± 2
6563 Hα −0.313 317 ± 21 298 ± 7 287 ± 15 272 ± 13 286 ± 2
6584 [N ii] −0.316 83 ± 8 36 ± 1 87 ± 5 73 ± 4 99 ± 2
6717 [S ii] −0.334 78 ± 7 48 ± 1 27 ± 8 65 ± 4 33 ± 2
6731 [S ii] −0.336 73 ± 10 31 ± 1 14 ± 2 48 ± 3 33 ± 2
F(Hβ) 167.5 ± 3.5 13.1 ± 0.2 1.9 ± 0.1 6.3 ± 0.1 3.0 ± 0.3
EW(Hβ) 28.5 ± 0.9 29.7 ± 4.6 4.3 ± 0.5 6.8 ± 0.2 3.2 ± 0.3
c(Hβ) 0.68 ± 0.09 0.37 ± 0.03 0.64 ± 0.07 0.76 ± 0.07 1.04 ± 0.01
Velocity 10191 ± 43 10186 ± 4 9485 ± 2 10830 ± 24 10320 ± 36

shown as measured, without applying any reddening correction common (Figure 5, open circles). We also see very good
to them (cyan: [O ii] 3727, red: Hα 6563, blue: [O iii] 5007, agreement, with a small variation expected given the different
pink: [N ii]6583, green: [S ii]6717, and yellow: [S ii]6731). De- position angles and different data analyses.
spite the fact that the covered regions are not identical (this The galaxies SDSSJ160304.20+171126.7, SDSSJ160 520.58+
could be due to the inhomogeneous nature of SF regions), we 175210.6, and SDSSJ160305.24+171136.1, quoted in the C09
can see that line ratios show a good agreement. While most of sample, only have SDSS spectroscopy. The same procedure
the points lie within the 0.2 dex scatter region from the 1:1 line, described in Sections 3 and 4.1 was applied to these galax-
there are some emission features that display larger discrep- ies. For the latter, even after applying STARLIGHT to the
ancies. This mostly happens in the cases of galaxies in which SDSS spectrum, we do not glean any emission line because
SDSS aperture is not completely coincident with our long-slit the SDSS fiber is placed in the center of the galaxy, where
spectrum. no Hα emission is present. The other two are included in our
In addition, IP03 have spectroscopic data for seven galaxies sample; their STARLIGHT outputs and line flux measurements
belonging to the C09 sample of SF galaxies in the Hercules are also quoted in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. Finally, in this
cluster. We compared the line fluxes, before the reddening work are also incorporated two galaxies (LEDA3085054 and
correction, for five galaxies for which we have spectra in [D97]ce-143), which belong to the C09 sample and for which

10
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 6. BPT diagram and Kauffmann et al. (2003; continuous blue) and
Kewley et al. (2001; dashed black) separation curves between objects with
Figure 4. Gas-phase extinction estimated using the Balmer emission lines vs. ionized gas produced by photoionization from massive stars and from non-
the extinction of the stellar component derived by STARLIGHT model fits on stellar ionizing sources. We use four distinct colors/symbols for our galaxies:
the continuum emission. A weighted linear fit to the data (solid line) yields the blue filled circles for dwarf/irregular galaxies (MB > −19), magenta squares
relation AV ,gas = 0.81 + 0.89AV ,star . for luminous (MB  −19) but integrated galaxies, red stars for the nuclei
of six spirals that we divide into different parts, and green triangles for their
corresponding disk components. The two parts of PGC057077 are plotted in
magenta filled squares; similarly, the two parts of PGC057064 are plotted in blue
filled circles. We mark with a square the galaxy SDSS J160531.84+174826.1,
which has been claimed (Dong et al. 2007) hosts a Seyfert 1 AGN.
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

chemical properties of nebulae can be derived by measuring

the intensities of collisionally excited emission lines. After
hydrogen and helium, the most abundant element in the universe
is oxygen. Additionally, oxygen presents bright emission lines
in the optical range when H ii regions of the local universe are
observed. In practice, the metallicity of SF galaxies is quantified
via the oxygen abundance, as 12 + log(O/H).
Prior to the determination of the gas-phase chemical abun-
dances, the excitation conditions of the gas have to be explored.
In order to do that we use the BPT diagrams (Baldwin et al.
1981). The derivation of gas-phase metal abundances is con-
strained to nebular emission-line spectra generated by photoion-
ization from massive stars. Non-stellar ionizing sources, such as
AGNs, produce generally distinctive emission-line ratios com-
pared to ordinary H ii regions. In Figure 6, we present the BPT
Figure 5. Emission-line ratios I(λ)/I(Hβ) for the principal emission lines diagram with Kauffmann et al. (2003) empirical demarcation
(without applying reddening correction) as derived by the ORM long-slit spectra curve with a continuous blue line, and Kewley et al. (2001) the-
observed for this work vs. corresponding ratios from SDSS (filled points) or oretical upper limit for starburst galaxies with a dashed black
IP03 spectra (open cycles) for the same galaxy regions. Cyan: [O ii] λ3727,
red: Hα 6563, blue: [O iii] λ5007, pink: [N ii] λ6583, green: [S ii] λ6717, and
line, in order to identify non-stellar ionizing sources. We use four
yellow: [S ii] λ6731). The continuous line is the line of equality and the dotted distinctive colors/symbols for our sample of galaxies. With blue
lines indicate a variation by ±0.2 dex. filled circles we plot the 16 integrated dwarf/irregular galaxies
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.) (MB > −19) of our sample.12 With red stars we plot the nuclei
of six spirals and with green triangles their corresponding disk
regions. Magenta squares are used for luminous (MB  −19)
spectroscopic data are available by IP03; all these spectra give galaxies for which we integrate the 2D long-slit spectrum into
a final coverage of the C09 sample of 72%. one 1D spectrum (PGC057077 is plotted with magenta squares
and PGC057064 with blue filled circles, although the spectra of
4.3. Abundance Derivation these peculiar galaxies have been divided into two parts each,
The radiation emitted by a nebula depends on the abundances
of the chemical elements and the physical state of the gas, 12 In figures where the plotted quantities involve measurement of [N ii] and
especially its average temperature and density. Physical and [S ii] lines, the galaxy LEDA3085054 is not included.

11
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 7. Histograms of the distribution of the N2S2 (left) and R23 (right) parameters for our sample of galaxies, using the same colors to separate our sample into
four categories as in Figure 6. The histograms in both the left and right panels correspond to, from top to bottom: dwarf/irregulars, disks of spirals, integrated spirals,
and nuclei of spirals.
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

for different reasons; see the Appendix for details). Although we N2S2 = −0.4, although there are few objects sorting out to
have divided the spectrum of the irregular galaxy LEDA084703 higher values. These high values, as we will see later in the
into three parts, from now on we consider the integrated values discussion, seem consistent with the properties of these galaxies.
because they show homogeneous chemical composition (see Spiral galaxies are separated into three categories. The galaxies
the Appendix for details on this galaxy). In Figure 6, we see for which we only have an integrated spectrum (magenta line,
that the nuclei of NGC 6045, NGC 6050A, KUG1602+175A, third from the top) show N2S2 values extending up to 0.4,
galaxy CGCG108+149, and the southeastern part of the peculiar and the most populated range is around 0.1–0.2. The other two
object PGC057064 (see the Appendix for special notes on this categories correspond to massive galaxies divided into nuclei
object) belong to the transition zone between the two separation (red line, fourth from the top) and disks (green, second from
curves. IC1182 lies on the separation curve of Kauffmann et al. the top). Although both distributions show a common range of
(2003), and there is a controversy in the literature whether there N2S2 values from 0.0 to 0.3, there is a tendency for the spectra
is an AGN hosted in the nucleus of this merger (see Radovich of the central parts to present higher N2S2 than the disks, which
et al. 2005 and references therein), but our long-slit spectrum can reach values as low as −0.3. In the same line for the R23
is slightly off-set from the optical center. A detailed investi- distribution, the dwarfs (right panel, first histogram from the
gation of the nature of this peculiar object is out of the scope top, with blue line) present the larger values of R23 up to 8 with
of the present paper and will be presented in a forthcoming few objects presenting values as low as R23 = 1–3 (as we will
work (V. Petropoulou et al. 2011, in preparation). The nucleus show later, this is a hint on the nature of these objects). However,
of IC1173 clearly lies in the AGN region; we do not include it as a possible consequence of the bi-valuated nature of the O/H
in our abundance analysis. We mark with a square the galaxy versus R23 function, the separation among the bright galaxies
SDSS J160531.84+174826.1. It has been claimed (Dong et al. is not as clear as in the left panel. Nonetheless it can be seen
2007) that this galaxy hosts a Seyfert 1 AGN; the position of that, for integrated bright galaxies (magenta, third from the top),
this galaxy in the BPT diagram, set by the ratios of the lines the R23 distribution shows a large range with values from 2 to
in our emission-line spectrum, is consistent with the area of the 7 with the most populated values close to 2; for the spatially
plot populated by SF objects. resolved galaxies, the range of disks reaches higher values (up
In Figure 7, we show the histograms of the distribution of the to 4) compared to nuclei (up to 3). This analysis highlights the
N2S213 and R2314 parameters for our sample of galaxies, using fact that using SDSS spectroscopy, which most probably means
the same colors to separate our sample into four categories as in sampling only galaxy centers (bottom histogram, with red line),
Figure 6. The histograms in both the left and right panels starting could introduce a bias in the abundance results.
from the top correspond to dwarf/irregulars, disks of spirals, There are two commonly used methods to determine oxygen
integrated spirals, and nuclei of spirals. The most populated abundances in H ii regions. The direct method is founded on
N2S2 bin for the dwarf/irregular galaxies of our sample (left a direct measurement of the electron temperature, applicable
panel, first histogram from the top, with blue line) lies around when the collisionally excited lines such as [O iii] λ4363,
[N ii] λ5755, [S iii] λ6312 are measured. We do not detect
13 N2S2 = log(I
[N ii]λ6584 /I[S ii]λλ6717,6731 ) (see Pérez-Montero & Contini any of the temperature diagnostic lines in our spectra. In
2009). addition, considering Hercules distance and the resolution of
14 R23=R2+R3, where R2 = I
[O ii]λ3727+λ3729 /IHβ and R3 =
I[O iii]λ4959+λ5007 /IHβ . When [O iii] λ4959 is not measured, we assume the our observations, we are constrained to integrate galaxy spectra
theoretical ratio: [O iii] λ4959/[O iii] λ5007 = 0.33. over large spatial scales, in some cases containing several H ii

12
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

regions, with potentially different ionization conditions. In these termination; in particular, the importance of possible self-
cases, the use of the direct method to derive abundances could enrichment (Lopez-Sanchez & Esteban 2010; Monreal-Ibero
be misleading (e.g., Kobulnicky et al. 1999). et al. 2010) and the differential chemical evolution of N ver-
The other way to determine oxygen abundances in H ii regions sus O could add some degree of uncertainty. These effects have
is to use semi-empirical calibrations. There are two different been extensively considered by PMC09, thus in this work we
types of calibrations: the empirical ones, based on fits to objects have adopted their calibration for nitrogen given by the N2S2
for which an accurate direct derivation of O/H is available (e.g., parameter, which has a typical rms error of ∼0.3 dex. In Table 4,
Pettini & Pagel 2004; Nagao et al. 2006; Pérez-Montero & the N/O values are also presented.
Contini 2009; Pilyugin & Thuan 2005; Pilyugin et al. 2010) For the spatially resolved spirals of our sample we have
and the ones based on predictions of theoretical photoionization explored the abundance gradients. Figures 8 and 9 show the
models (e.g., McGaugh 1991; Kewley & Dopita 2002; Tremonti O/H and N/O abundance profiles, respectively, for the six
et al. 2004). For an extensive review, see Lopez-Sanchez & spiral galaxies of our sample for which individual spectra,
Esteban (2010) and Kewley & Ellison (2008). corresponding to different spatial regions, have been extracted.
It has been shown recently (Bresolin et al. 2009) that model We plot the chemical abundances derived for each region in
calibrations show a positive shift of 0.3 dex compared to oxygen bins of galactocentric distance in arcseconds, normalized to the
abundances derived with the direct method, whereas the latter r25 radius17 extracted from SDSS r  -band images (see Table 5).
agree very well with oxygen abundances derived for the massive The plots show mild or flat O/H abundance gradients across a
young stars. For our sample we also find a 0.3 dex positive limited radial extension of the disk.
shift between the abundances predicted using McGaugh (1991)
model calibration (formulated by Kobulnicky et al. 1999) and the 4.4. Physical Properties
empirical calibration calculated by Pilyugin et al. (2010). Taking
We derive stellar mass for each galaxy using the kcorrect_v4
this into account, in this analysis we have chosen empirical
algorithm (version 4_2) of Blanton & Roweis (2007). This IDL
calibrations.
code corrects implicitly for dust and assumes a universal IMF
Our sample spans from very low metallicity dwarfs to evolved
of Chabrier (2003) form. The SEDs used to best fit the observed
disks and galaxy centers, with an important fraction lying in the
SDSS ugriz photometry are based on Bruzual & Charlot (2003)
turnover region of the R23 versus oxygen abundance relation
stellar evolution synthesis codes. The best-fitting SED provides
(see Figure 7). For the empirical calibrations we use the N2
an estimate of the stellar mass-to-light ratio.18 Drory et al. (2004)
calibration given by Pérez-Montero & Contini (2009, hereafter
argue that broadband color mass estimators can yield fairly
PMC09) and the recent calibration by Pilyugin et al. (2010, here-
reliable stellar masses for galaxies within ∼0.2 dex over almost
after P10) because they have the advantage of being valid along
four decades in mass. Li & White (2009) demonstrate that, once
the entire metallicity range of our sample. The N215 PMC09
all estimates are adapted to assume the same IMF, the Blanton
parameter shows a monotonic relation with oxygen abundance,
& Roweis (2007) masses agree quite well with those obtained
thus avoiding the degeneracy problem of R23; though this cal-
from the single-color estimator of Bell et al. (2003) and also with
ibration involves a large rms error of up to ∼0.3 dex. In order
those derived by Kauffmann et al. (2003) from a combination
to circumvent this problem P10 has provided a new improved
of SDSS photometry and spectroscopy. More recently, Jabran
calibration, which uses a multiparametric function of P, R2,
Zahid et al. (2010) also stated that optical bands are sufficient to
R3, S2, N216 parameters and produces a very small rms error
constrain the SED fit for determining masses of SF galaxies. The
∼0.07 dex. In Table 4, we give the oxygen abundance derived
galaxy stellar masses given from the algorithm were converted
using both abundance calibrations. We are aware that using ni-
to H0 = 73 km s−1 Mpc−1 in this work and are presented in
trogen as an abundance indicator from which to derive oxygen
Table 5.
abundances can be potentially dangerous in case of objects with
We also calculate the 2D local galaxy density Σ using two
particular evolution, for example, for nitrogen-enriched galax-
methods. We use the density estimator based on an average
ies (see PMC09). Comparing both abundance calibrations, we
of the projected distances (d, in Mpc) to the fourth and fifth
interpret PMC09 abundances as an upper estimate and P10 as
nearest neighbors as given by Mouhcine et al. (2007) and used
a lower estimate and, being conservative, we have adopted the
by Ellison et al. (2009),
mean of the two oxygen abundances. For each galaxy of our
sample the adopted O/H value is consistent with the prediction    
1 4 1 5
of both calibrations within the statistical errors. For each O/H log Σ4,5 = log + log , (2)
determination we have estimated the corresponding error as the 2 π d42 2 π d52
rms of a Gaussian error distribution produced by a random sam-
pling simulation taking into account the errors of the P, R23, considering all galaxies with SDSS spectra in the Hercules
R2, R3, S2, and N2 parameters. This error estimation has been region at the corresponding redshift range, and presenting a
adopted in all cases except in those cases for which it is lower difference in radial velocity smaller than 750 km s−1 , a value
than the statistical error provided by the P10 calibration (∼0.07 approximately equal to σV of the cluster.
dex), which was finally adopted. As can be noted in Table 4, To account for possible fiber collisions that may lead to an
the error adopted is very close to half of the difference in O/H underestimate of the local density in regions rich in projected
provided by both calibrations. galaxies as cluster centers, we calculate the local galaxy number
Nitrogen is also an important element in investigating galaxy density to the 10th nearest neighbor Σ10 , using a magnitude-
evolution. Nitrogen abundance deserves a more thorough de- limited sample of galaxies taken from the SDSS database
without velocity constrain. Counts of galaxies as a proxy of
 
15 Defined by PMC09 as N2 = log I[N ii]λ6584 /IHα .
17 Radius r is the radius of the galaxies at a surface brightness of
16 Defined in P10 as N2 = I[N ii]λ6548+λ6584 /IHβ , S2 = I[S ii]λ6717+λ6731 /IHβ , 25
and P = R3/R23. The theoretical ratio [N ii] λ6548/[N ii] λ6584 = 0.3 is 25 mag arcsec−2 .
assumed when necessary. 18 The χ 2 of the fit is less than 5 (1) for 73% (27%) of our sample.

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Table 4
Chemical Abundances
GALAXY 12+log(O/H) 12+log(O/H) 12+log(O/H) error log(N/O)
PMC09 P10 adopted adopted PMC09
PGC057185a 8.64 8.48 8.56 0.07 −1.04
PGC057185b 8.74 8.53 8.63 0.07 −0.72
PGC057185c 8.69 8.50 8.60 0.12 −0.86
IC1173a 8.83 8.56 8.69 0.26 −0.63
IC1173e 8.72 8.57 8.65 0.07 −1.05
KUG1603+179Aa 8.73 8.53 8.63 0.07 −0.74
KUG1603+179Ab 8.88 8.57 8.72 0.07 −0.54
KUG1603+179Ac 8.74 8.53 8.64 0.07 −0.69
NGC 6050Aa 8.92 8.53 8.72 0.07 −0.55
NGC 6050Ab 8.71 8.59 8.65 0.07 −0.69
NGC 6050B 8.63 8.52 8.58 0.07 −1.02
LEDA1543586 8.43 8.34 8.38 0.07 −1.15
NGC 60545a 8.77 8.49 8.63 0.09 −0.71
NGC 6045b 8.74 8.54 8.64 0.07 −0.57
NGC 6045c 8.95 8.54 8.75 0.07 −0.36
NGC 6045d 8.68 8.61 8.65 0.07 −0.53
NGC 6045e 8.74 8.46 8.60 0.07 −0.74
KUG1602+174A 8.72 8.58 8.65 0.12 −0.81
LEDA084719 8.75 8.46 8.61 0.26 −0.69
PGC057077a 8.73 8.46 8.60 0.07 −0.64
PGC057077b 8.70 8.54 8.62 0.07 −0.63
UGC10190a 8.75 8.53 8.64 0.07 −1.01
UGC10190b 8.72 8.58 8.65 0.07 −0.86
UGC10190c 8.61 8.50 8.55 0.07 −1.27
LEDA140568 8.08 8.05 8.07 0.11 −1.60
[D97]ce-200 8.35 8.19 8.27 0.07 −1.49
PGC57064a 8.79 8.50 8.64 0.07 −0.58
PGC057064b 8.86 8.35 8.61 0.07 −0.81
LEDA084703int 8.41 8.28 8.35 0.07 −1.29
LEDA084703a 8.40 8.24 8.32 0.07 −1.29
LEDA084703b 8.42 8.29 8.35 0.07 −1.25
LEDA084703c 8.46 8.26 8.36 0.07 −1.40
KUG1602+175 8.72 8.54 8.63 0.07 −0.63
LEDA084710 8.67 8.44 8.56 0.27 −0.92
CGCG108-149 8.88 8.53 8.71 0.12 −0.61
KUG1602+174B 8.70 8.54 8.62 0.07 −0.87
LEDA084724 8.53 8.42 8.48 0.07 −1.24
SDSSJ160556.98+174304.1 8.27 8.21 8.24 0.11 −1.36
[DKP87]160310.21+175956.7 8.61 8.50 8.56 0.07 −1.19
SDSSJ160524.27+175329.3 7.97 8.01 7.99 0.07 −1.67
SDSSJ160523.66+174832.3 8.54 8.28 8.41 0.07 −1.30
IC1182 8.61 8.41 8.51 0.07 −1.19
IC1182:[S72]d 8.34 8.27 8.31 0.07 −1.29
SDSSJ160531.84+174826.1 8.66 8.64 8.65 0.07 −0.45
SDSSJ160304.20+171126.7 8.62 8.44 8.53 0.07 −1.10
SDSSJ160520.58+175210.6 8.71 8.68 8.69 0.15 −0.64
[D97]ce-143 8.43 8.26 8.35 0.07 −1.40
LEDA3085054 ... 7.43a 7.58 0.07 −0.86a

Notes. The oxygen abundance is derived using Pérez-Montero & Contini (2009) and Pilyugin et al. (2010) calibrations. N/O is derived
using N2S2 calibration by Pérez-Montero & Contini (2009).
a These values are given by the used calibration assuming upper limits for the [N ii] and [S ii] lines. The adopted O/H value is the one

provided by Iglesias-Páramo et al. (2003) calculated using the P-method; we see that is in very good agreement with the O/H value that
we calculate with the P10 method.

the local environment have the main weakness of missing the analysis, as will be discussed in Section 5. The density estimates
luminosity information of the counted galaxies. To account for log Σ4,5 and log Σ10 are quoted in Table 5.
this problem, we limit the count to luminous galaxies Mr  = We then estimate the projected distance of our galaxies to
−19, mr  = 17 mag when corrected for galactic extinction. To the cluster center. As already mentioned in Section 1, Hercules
correct for background and foreground galaxies, we use the field is a peculiar cluster of galaxies, where the maximum of the
galaxy counts as given by Yasuda et al. (2001). The local galaxy cluster galaxy distribution (16h 05m 15.s 0 +17d 44m 55s , extracted
number density is calculated to the 10th neighbor in order to from NED) is not coincident with the primary X-ray maximum
improve statistics. As expected, the corresponding densities are found by Huang & Sarazin (1996). The center of the brightest
higher, but they do not affect the conclusions of the MZ relation X-ray component coincides with the brightest cluster galaxy

14
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 8. Oxygen abundances of the galaxies with spatially resolved spectroscopy in radial bins of galactocentric distance in arcseconds normalized to r25 . For IC1173,
dashed lines indicate the radial bin of the AGN extracted spectrum.

Figure 9. Same as in Figure 8 for N/O.

NGC 6041A (16h 04m 35.s 8 +17d 43m 18s ). In Table 5, we give these c(Hβ) derived spectroscopically. We also correct the Hα
the projected distance of our sample galaxies to both centers flux from [N ii] contamination using the empirical correction
in Mpc, referred to as the cosmological corrected distance of given by Reverte (2008):
Hercules cluster 158.3 Mpc. log EW(Hα) = (−0.34 ± 0.03)
We calculate the star formation rate (SFR) of our galaxies
from their Hα emission given by C09 using the Kennicutt (1998) + (1.13 ± 0.02) log EW(Hα + [N ii]). (3)
calibration. We use c(Hβ) derived by our optical spectroscopy This empirical correction was derived using line fluxes inte-
to correct Hα emission from extinction, assuming the Miller & grated for entire galaxies, extracted from the extended spec-
Mathews (1972) extinction law with RV = 3.2. When spectra trophotometric galaxy sample of Jansen et al. (2000), suitable
of different parts of a galaxy are considered, the c(Hβ) used to for this kind of analysis. The errors on SFR quoted take into
calculate the global SFR of the galaxy is the mean value of all account only the Hα flux error.

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Table 5
Physical Properties

Galaxy MB isoA log Σ4,5 log Σ10 R RX M MHI SFR

(mag) (arcsec) (Mpc) (Mpc) (108 M ) (108 M ) (M yr−1 )
PGC057185 −19.51 24.24 1.4 1.5 1.06 1.47 169.8 ... 0.8 ± 0.1
IC1173 −20.79 30.68 1.1 1.5 0.9 0.92 444.7 37.3 7.3 ± 0.7
KUG1603+179A −20.05 23.54 2.0 2.4 0.18 0.62 275.9 128.5 3.9 ± 0.2
NGC 6050A −20.87 30.10 1.7 2.4 0.1 0.53 27.6 53.1 ...
NGC 6050B −19.30 ... 2.3 2.4 0.1 0.53 262.7 ... ...
LEDA1543586 −18.46 13.43 1.8 1.9 0.3 0.53 6.3 27.6 0.19 ± 0.01
NGC 6045 −21.04 36.76 2.0 2.4 0.08 0.37 806.9 46.8a 15.2 ± 1.0
KUG1602+174A −19.24 13.47 1.2 2.3 1.17 1.03 72.6 ... 0.6 ± 0.1
LEDA084719 −19.20 10.60 1.6 1.9 0.29 0.4 83.7 ... 1.5 ± 0.3
PGC057077 −19.11 11.00 2.0 2.2 0.22 0.65 53.3 ... 8.8b
UGC10190 −19.21 26.40 1.9 2.1 0.19 0.56 60.8 100.8 0.4 ± 0.1
LEDA140568 −17.42 13.65 1.2 1.5 0.49 0.93 2.1 36.4 0.017 ± 0.002
[D97]ce-200 −17.74 8.54 2.3 2.3 0.13 0.38 3.0 9.0 0.091 ± 0.006
PGC057064 −18.65c 18.65c 2.1 1.9 0.26 0.64 104.0c ... 3.9 ± 0.9c
LEDA084703 −18.79 15.94 1.6 1.7 2.13 1.81 37.9 26.5 0.73 ± 0.03
KUG1602+175 −20.57 21.92 1.3 1.6 0.89 0.76 191.4 99.6 4.7 ± 0.3
LEDA084710 −19.23 18.85 1.2 1.7 1.05 0.8 122.9 ... 3.9 ± 0.2
CGCG108-149 −20.14 18.87 1.3 1.6 0.97 1.39 311.5 15.5a 3.2 ± 0.3
KUG1602+174B −19.70 18.65 1.2 1.8 1.15 1.04 96.1 49.9 1.9 ± 0.2
LEDA084724 −18.72 14.82 1.0 1.4 0.57 0.86 42.6 ... 1.002 ± 0.03
SDSS J160556.98+174304.1 −17.09 5.54 1.2 1.5 0.47 0.89 3.3 ... 0.210 ± 0.009
[DKP87]160310.21+175956.7 −17.41 7.59 2.0 1.8 0.34 0.67 5.7 ... 0.06 ± 0.02
SDSS J160524.27+175329.3 −16.16 3.53 1.3 1.8 0.41 0.71 1.1 ... 0.022 ± 0.002
SDSS J160523.66+174832.3 −16.76 5.88 1.9 2.1 0.19 0.58 3.4 ... 0.07 ± 0.02
IC1182 −20.98 27.24 2.1 2.0 0.28 0.7 654.9 ... 22.1 ± 0.6
IC1182:[S72]d −17.73 9.62 1.9 1.9 0.33 0.76 1.3 186.0 0.83 ± 0.02
SDSS J150531.84+174826.1 −17.23 5.21 2.2 2.0 0.25 0.66 15.5 ... 0.146 ± 0.009
SDSS J160304.20+171126.7 −17.42 9.05 1.6 1.7 2.1 1.78 24.8 ... 0.55 ± 0.03
SDSS J160520.58+175210.6 −18.51 13.85 1.9 1.9 0.34 0.64 10.6 ... 0.20 ± 0.02
[D97]ce-143 −17.56 8.29 1.4 1.9 0.33 0.64 14.9 16.7 0.025 ± 0.004
LEDA3085054 −16.23 4.65 1.4 1.5 0.46 0.88 0.7 19.7 0.045 ± 0.002

Notes. Column1: galaxy name from C09; Column 2: B absolute magnitude, calculated from SDSS g  magnitudes, assuming a distance to A2151 of 158.3 Mpc
and an average correction of g  − B = −0.3 mag (Fukugita et al. 1995). All the quantities of this table are referred to the cosmological corrected distance of
Hercules cluster assuming H0 = 73 km s−1 Mpc−1 ; Column 3: SDSS isoA parameter for the r  band in arcseconds; Column 4: local density estimator log Σ4,5 ;
Column 5: local density estimator log Σ10 ; Column 6: projected distance to the cluster center in Mpc; Column 7: projected distance to the X-rays center in Mpc;
Column 8: stellar mass calculated with kcorrect; Column 9: H i mass from Dickey (1997); Column 10: SFR in M yr−1 .
a For NGC 6045 and CGCG108-149 Dickey (1997) data are incomplete or nonexistent; we have used H i masses from Giovanelli et al. (1981). For NGC 6045

H i measurements provided by these two works are consistent. For the galaxy part that was included in Dickey (1997) due to the velocity cutoff of the
spectrometer used, see the Appendix for details.
b The derived SFR is uncertain, as this galaxy shows two parts suffering completely different extinctions. The average extinction has been used.
c These physical properties have been derived on the basis of integrated photometric data of this merger considered as one galaxy.

Finally, we note that the H i survey of Dickey (1997) covers cluster. We examine the potential impact of the environment
the whole central region of A2151, where all our SF galaxies on the MZ and luminosity–metallicity (LZ) relations and
lie. We have adopted the H i masses provided in that work investigate different evolutionary scenarios for these cluster
(converting them to H0 = 73 km s−1 Mpc−1 ). galaxies.
Table 5 summarizes for each galaxy the physical properties The Hercules cluster 3D galaxy distribution is extremely
calculated in this work and others extracted from the literature: clumpy (Bird et al. 1995), rendering it a very interesting and
the MB absolute magnitude, the galaxy radius at 25 mag arcsec−2 vivid environment difficult to disentangle only in the projected
in arcseconds (extracted from the SDSS isoA parameter for the space without taking into account galaxy velocity. The local
r  band), the local density estimates logΣ4,5 and logΣ10 , the density of galaxies has been widely used as an indicator of their
projected distance to the cluster center and the projected distance environments; in this work we have studied the behavior of
to the X-rays’ center in Mpc, the stellar mass calculated with metallicity versus local density. The local density Σ4,5 , derived
the kcorrect algorithm, the H i mass from Dickey (1997), and to the fourth and fifth nearest neighbors, would describe the
the SFR in M yr−1 . local environment at the group scale.
In Figure 10, we plot the galaxy gas-phase oxygen abundances
5. DISCUSSION versus the local density estimators Σ4,5 (left) and Σ10 (right)
calculated in Section 4.4. We keep the same color/symbol
5.1. Metallicity versus Local Density distinction as in Figure 6. Additionally, the points corresponding
In this paper, we study the relation between metallicity and to the same galaxy (nuclei and disks) are connected with straight
environment for our sample of SF galaxies in the Hercules lines. We see that for luminous galaxies, the oxygen abundance

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 10. Oxygen abundance of galaxies vs. their local densities. Left: O/H vs. Σ4,5 , the local galaxy number density to the average of the projected distances to the
fourth and fifth nearest neighbors, where the galaxies considered are secure members of the Hercules cluster, as indicated by their SDSS spectroscopic redshift. Right:
O/H vs. Σ10 , the local galaxy number density to the 10th nearest neighbor, where a magnitude limited sample (Mr   −19 mag) of galaxies is used and we remedy
for background and foreground galaxies using the field galaxy counts of Yasuda et al. (2001). Colors and point features are as in Figure 11: blue filled circles for
dwarf/irregular galaxies (MB > −19), magenta squares for spirals (MB  −19) integrated galaxies, red stars for the nuclei of six spirals that we divide into different
parts and green triangles for their corresponding disk components (nuclei and disks are connected with lines). Both parts of PGC057077 are plotted in magenta filled
squares; similarly, both parts of PGC057064 are plotted in blue filled circles.
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

does not show any significant dependence on the local galaxy 5.2. Mass and Luminosity versus Metallicity
number density. Luminous galaxies of this sample span the
entire range of densities and are found to have nearly solar Figure 11 (left) shows the gas-phase oxygen abundance versus
oxygen abundance. Dwarf galaxies show a noticeable variation: galaxy stellar mass for our sample of galaxies (colors and point
the ∼80% of the less metallic dwarfs (12 + log O/H < 8.4) features as in Figure 10). We see that Hercules SF galaxies
are located at Σ4,5 < 1.85, whereas the ∼70% of the higher follow a well-defined sequence on this plot, which reaches a
metallicity (12 + log O/H > 8.4) dwarf galaxies are located at saturation value ∼Z for galaxies with ∼1010 M . We observe
very high local densities Σ4,5 > 1.85. A substantial fraction of that the set of dwarfs/irregulars populating the higher local
these more metallic dwarfs have been identified to be affected densities (i.e., log Σ4,5 > 1.85; see Section 5.1), marked here
by interactions; they are described in detail in the Appendix. with circles, appear shifted toward higher metallicities for their
This dual behavior is not so evident when the Σ10 density mass. This fact suggests a different evolution for these galaxies
estimator is used. The dependency observed in Figure 10 of the in the environment of the cluster, thus providing a physical
metallicity of dwarf/irregular galaxies on local density could reason for the dispersion in the MZ relation. These findings are in
be interpreted as follows: at the highest local densities, i.e., line with the results of Cooper et al. (2008), who attribute ∼15%
approaching the cluster center, only the more “robust”—i.e., of the measured scatter of the MZ relation to the environment.
more massive and more metallic—dwarf galaxies can survive. For the sake of clarity, in Figure 11 (right) we added the 15
Conversely, the less metallic dwarf galaxies should have recently Virgo dIs and BCDs (light blue open circles) from Vaduvescu
been incorporated to the cluster. This “newcomers” scenario for et al. (2007) and references therein (excluding VCC641 because
dwarfs is additionally supported by the fact that the majority of its uncertain oxygen abundance). For consistency with our
of the low metallicity dwarf galaxies present radial velocities data, when a direct abundance estimation is not available, we
that differ from the radial velocity of the brighter cluster galaxy recalculate their abundances using the P10 method. We have
NGC 6041A—located at the X-ray maximum of the cluster—by recalculated the stellar mass for the Virgo dwarf galaxy sample
more than σV , which is possible evidence of infall (Section 2.1). using the kcorrect code (as for the Hercules sample) and found
One point worth mentioning here is that, in this work, we a good agreement with the mass estimate given by Vaduvescu
study the effect of local galaxy density by sampling environ- et al. (2007), who calculated it using K-band photometry (we
ments much denser (from log Σ4,5 = 1.0 to 2.5) than in previous use the latter values in our Figure 11). We see that Virgo dwarf
works (Mateus et al. 2007; Mouhcine et al. 2007; Cooper et al. galaxies couple nicely with our Hercules data on the MZ plot.
2008; Ellison et al. 2009) typically reaching log Σ ∼ 1.5. Addi- We also compare with the extensive sample of SF galaxies used
tionally, the works mentioned above use the SDSS database and by Amorı́n et al. (2010), comprised of all the emission-line
include few dwarf galaxies, mainly due to the magnitude limit galaxies listed in the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics/
of SDSS in combination with galaxy-size limits or redshift con- Johns Hopkings University (MPA/JHU) Data catalog of the
straints applied in order to minimize possible aperture effects. SDSS DR 719 , which covers a redshift range 0.03  z  0.37.
This study, therefore, is complementary and goes beyond these Oxygen abundances were calculated using the N2 calibration
previous works, dealing also with the dwarf galaxy population. of PM09 and mass estimates were taken from the MPA/JHU
In this sense, the Hercules cluster, being an ideal laboratory in catalog. On this plot Hercules SF galaxies lie within the same
which to study the environmental effects on SF galaxies, was not range as the emission-line galaxies of SDSS DR 7, except in the
included in the SDSS-DR4 used in all these previous studies. 19 Available at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/SDSS/.

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 11. Left: gas-phase oxygen abundance vs. galaxy stellar mass for the Hercules galaxies. We keep the same color distinction as in Figure 10. We mark with
circles the galaxies located at densities log Σ4,5 > 1.85, which appear preferentially located above the general relation. Right: on the same plot we add the Virgo dIs
and BCDs from Vaduvescu et al. (2007) (light blue open circles) and the MPA/JHU SF galaxies (gray points) used as a reference sample by Amorı́n et al. (2010).
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

Figure 12. Left: gas-phase oxygen abundance vs. galaxy MB absolute magnitude for the Hercules sample (colors and symbols as in Figure 11). As in the MZ relation,
galaxies (marked with circles) at high density (log Σ4,5 > 1.85) appear shifted toward higher O/H. Right: we add the Virgo dI and BCDs (light blue circles) as given
by Vı́lchez & Iglesias-Páramo (2003) and Vaduvescu et al. (2007), the Virgo spirals (central abundance; red open triangles) from Pilyugin et al. (2002) and references
therein, and the Hydra dwarfs (green open squares) by Duc et al. (2001, 1999).
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

higher mass range, where our data show a shift toward lower (2001, 1999). All the abundances were recalculated using the
metallicities by ∼0.15 dex as compared to the Amorı́n et al. P10 method and MB of the Virgo spirals was derived from the LB
(2010) sample. We tentatively attribute this observed shift to given by Skillman et al. (1996). We see that SF galaxies of the
the different oxygen abundance calibration used in each case; Hydra, Virgo, and Hercules clusters appear to follow the overall
in addition, another important effect is the different spatial LZ relation, though it is apparent that the scatter has increased.
coverage of SDSS spectra versus the spatially resolved spectra Moreover, Hercules SF galaxies also follow a well-defined
used in this work. sequence on the plots of the N/O ratio versus galaxy stellar
In Figure 12 (left), we plot the gas-phase oxygen abundance mass and galaxy MB absolute magnitude shown in Figure 13. In
versus galaxy MB absolute magnitude. Our galaxy sample these plots, we can see how some of the dwarf galaxies shifted
follows an LZ relation, where the same differential behavior toward higher O values in the MZ relation appear overabundant
identified in the MZ relation is clear for the dwarf/irregular in N/O (see also Section 5.3.2). Additionally, the N/O ratio
galaxies at high local densities (i.e., log Σ4,5 > 1.85). On the makes evident a significant abundance difference between nuclei
plot to the right we show again the Virgo dI and BCDs (light blue and disks (points connected with straight lines), which will be
open circles; Vı́lchez & Iglesias-Páramo 2003; Vaduvescu et al. discussed in more detail in Section 5.4.
2007), and the (centers of) Virgo spirals (red open triangles) Very recent works (Mannucci et al. 2010; Lara-López et al.
from Pilyugin et al. (2002) and references therein. We also 2010) discuss the existence of a more general relation be-
add the Hydra dwarfs (green open diamonds) from Duc et al. tween stellar mass, gas-phase metallicity, and SFR in the local

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 13. N/O vs. galaxy stellar mass (left) and MB absolute magnitude (right) for the Hercules galaxies (colors and symbols as in Figure 11). A significant N/O
abundance difference can be seen between galaxy nuclei and disks (points connected with straight lines).
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

universe. We have checked that, for the galaxy mass range we

have in common, Hercules SF galaxies lie in the same range
as the Lara-López et al. (2010) sample in the 3D plot, which
combines stellar mass, gas-phase metallicity, and SFR. How-
ever, in this work we prefer not to extend this discussion until
our spectroscopic study of several nearby clusters is finished
(V. Petropoulou et al. 2011, in preparation). In that upcoming
study, metallicities, stellar masses, and SFR are computed for
a large sample of SF cluster galaxies. With this new data set a
study of the fundamental plane for SF galaxies in clusters could
be performed.
5.3. Environment and Chemical Enrichment
in Hercules Galaxies
5.3.1. Comparison with the Closed-box Model
In order to study possible environmental effects on the
(gas-phase) chemical enrichment in galaxies, it is useful to
compare with the predictions of the so-called closed-box model
(Edmunds 1990). According to this model, a galaxy consists
initially of gas with no stars and no metals. The stellar IMF
is assumed to be constant in time and the products of stellar Figure 14. Oxygen abundances for our sample galaxies vs. the ratio of the gas
nucleosynthesis are assumed to enrich the interstellar medium mass to the baryonic mass, μ = Mgas /Mbar (colors and symbols as in Figure 11).
(ISM) instantaneously. Throughout its life, the metal content The green continuous line indicates the closed-box model with yo = 0.0074,
of a galaxy is neither diluted by infalling pristine gas nor lost and the blue dashed line corresponds to yo = 0.002. The gray strip gives the
via outflow of enriched gas. Hence, the metallicity at any given best fit of Lee et al. (2003) to their field dIs. The cyan circles correspond to the
Virgo dI and BCDs from Vaduvescu et al. (2007). Arrows mark objects with
time is only determined by the fraction of baryons that remain upper limit in H i.
in gaseous form. The model equation can be written as (A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)
Zo = yo ln(1/μ), (4)
for stars with rotation following the Meynet & Maeder (2002)
where Zo is the oxygen mass fraction, yo is the yield by mass, models (van Zee & Haynes 2006). Both infall and outflow of
and μ is the ratio of the gas mass to the baryonic mass, μ = well-mixed material will result in effective yields that are lower
Mgas /Mbar . The gas mass corresponds to the hydrogen atomic than the true yields, as the enriched material is either diluted
gas with a correction for neutral helium (Mgas = 1.32 MHI ; (infall) or lost from the system (outflow). A fraction of the
molecular gas mass was not taken into account here) and sample of isolated dwarf irregular (dI) galaxies of van Zee &
Mbar = Mgas + M , where M is the mass in stars. Haynes (2006) was found to follow the theoretical yield, and the
Figure 14 compares the observed oxygen abundances for rest appears consistent with a lower yield yo = 0.002, almost
our sample galaxies to the prediction of the closed-box model, 1/4 of the model prediction (blue dashed line in Figure 14). The
plotted with lines with different yo . The green continuous line gray strip indicates the relationship given by Lee et al. (2003)
indicates the model with yo = 0.0074, that is, the theoretical between oxygen abundance and the baryonic gas fraction for a
yield of oxygen expected for a Salpeter IMF and constant SFR, sample of local universe dIs. The cyan open circles correspond

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

to the Virgo dI and BCDs from Vaduvescu et al. (2007). Most (Edmunds 1990; van Zee & Haynes 2006). There exist examples
of the Virgo dwarfs appear consistent with the Lee et al. (2003) of dwarf galaxies formed from the gas lost in a merger, e.g., the
locus for local dwarf galaxies, though some of them still present old TDG VCC 2062 in the Virgo cluster studied by Duc et al.
lower gas fractions. (2007); according to these authors this galaxy has probably been
We can see in Figure 14 that four of our low-mass galax- formed out of the gas clouds lost by a gas-rich galaxy involved
ies for which we have H i measurements (Leda1543586, in a merger.
LEDA140568, [D97]ce-200, and LEDA3085054) are in agree- For the galaxies in our sample that were not detected in Dickey
ment with the closed-box model predictions with yo = 0.0074 (1997) we assume an H i mass upper limit corresponding to the
(green line). This fact suggests that these galaxies are falling detection threshold of this survey (2.6×108 M ). In Figure 14,
into the central region of the cluster and are now encountering we add those galaxies with right pointing arrows (representative
the dense ICM gas for the first time; as a consequence, gas re- of the central oxygen abundance) to indicate the upper limit for
moval by ram-pressure stripping might not yet be observable. their H i mass. Excluding the galaxies already discussed, the rest
These four galaxies can be considered as prototypes of the “new- of the galaxies in Figure 14 (including upper limits) on average
comers” to the cluster introduced in Section 5.1. This result is suggest effective yields below the closed box model and are
additionally supported by their disturbed Hα characteristic mor- consistent with the field sample of Lee et al. (2003). Finally,
phologies (as seen in the Hα maps in C09) as described below. some points (few Virgo dwarfs and one Hercules upper limit for
The Hα emission map of Leda1543586 reveals a strong episode the IC1182 merger) still appear in Figure 14 displaced toward
of star formation concentrated into an asymmetric arc located even lower values of gas fractions, as would be expected if these
on the side of the galaxy facing the cluster center and almost cluster galaxies suffered important environmentally induced gas
no emission in the opposite side. This typical “bow” morphol- removal (e.g., from ram-pressure stripping).
ogy has been observed in other cluster galaxies (e.g., Gavazzi
et al. 2001) and is very suggestive of a ram-pressure event. Af- 5.3.2. Gas-phase Metallicity versus Properties of the
ter closer inspection of the C09 Hα maps we identify that the Underlying Stellar Component
galaxy LEDA140568 also shows a “bow-shock” morphology on
In order to search for possible environmental footprints on
the side of the galaxy facing the cluster center. Additionally, the
the chemical history of our sample galaxies, we compare the
other two galaxies, [D97]ce-200 and LEDA3085054, present
stellar population properties, such as the mass-weighted stellar
strongly asymmetric Hα emission, one-sided and offset from
metallicity Z,M and mass-weighted stellar age τ,M , brought
the galaxy optical center. These starbursts could be the signa-
forth by the STARLIGHT model fitting (Section 3), with the
ture of pressure-triggered star formation by the ICM within the
gas-phase abundances derived in this work. The fact that these
cluster environment (Treu et al. 2003). Additionally, these four
properties (for stars and gas) have been obtained following a
galaxies have abs(ΔV ) > σV (see Section 2.1) and they have a
completely different methodology should render our analysis
median projected distance to the center of the X-ray distribution
more robust.
of ∼700 kpc; thus they are approaching the edge of the main
Figure 15 shows the gas-phase oxygen abundance (left) and
X-ray emitting region, which extends up to RX = 678 kpc
the N/O ratio (right) versus the mass-weighted stellar age τ,M .
(Huang & Sarazin 1996).
We see an overall positive trend, more prominent for N/O,
The blue points close to the blue dashed line in Figure 14
which should reflect the different timescales for the delivery of
(yo = 0.002) correspond to the dwarf/irregular galaxies
these two elements to the ISM. Oxygen, produced in Type II
[D97]ce-143 and LEDA084703 (see the Appendix for details).
SNe, is released after ∼10 Myr, while nitrogen is produced and
[D97]ce-143 is located at high local density (Section 5.1) and
released over a substantially longer period, 250 Myr. Overall,
Dickey (1997) reports that its corresponding H i cloud shows
we can see how nitrogen abundance seems to correlate better
two elongations and is highly reminiscent of the Magellanic
with the mass-weighted stellar age. Additionally, the dispersion
Stream. LEDA084703 shows a long H i plume (Dickey 1997)
in N/O becomes smaller at an older age, possibly reflecting
reaching about 1 from the optical center to the southeast (also
the averaging effects of many SF episodes, while the larger
at the eastern part of this galaxy is located the supernova [SN]
dispersion seen at young ages could reflect the stochastic effects
quoted by Zwicky et al. 1969). These peculiar H i morpholo-
of few episodes of SF or other possible environmental effects
gies suggest that some gas mass-loss effect has taken place,
such as, e.g., gas inflows.
explaining their location in Figure 14.
In Figure 15, we can see that 85% of the dwarf galaxies
A very interesting case is the galaxy IC1182:[S72]d labeled in
residing at high local density environments (log Σ4,5 > 1.85)
Figure 14. This TDC (Iglesias-Páramo et al. 2003) shows an H i
present old stellar populations of mass-weighted age 6 Gyr.
distribution that extends well beyond the galaxy disk (Dickey
Conversely, ∼70% of the dwarfs located at density log Σ4,5 <
1997). This morphology, combined with the information we
1.85 present mass-weighted ages below this value; a hint
obtained on its gas-phase chemical content (this galaxy lies
suggesting that only the more robust galaxies—e.g., more
above the MZ and mass–N/O relations) and with its old stellar
massive, evolved, and more metallic—could have survived in
population (see Section 5.3.2), indicates a particular formation
the environment of highest galaxy density. The outliers to this
scenario for this galaxy. This galaxy is probably the result
general correlation can also give us important clues to possible
of a “block” produced during the merger IC1182 and seems
environmental effects on their chemical histories. On the right
dominated by an old stellar population. This stellar “block”
plot of Figure 15, we can identify the galaxy merger IC1182 and
could have acquired a large mass of gas from the late-type galaxy
the two dwarfs associated with it (SDSS J150531.84+174826.1
of the merger IC1182. This formation scenario could explain
and IC1182:[S72]d; see the Appendix). Interestingly enough,
why IC1182:[S72]d shows a much higher gas fraction than the
all three objects present almost the same (very old) stellar
value expected according to the closed-box model. Thus, the
age. Moreover, the galaxy SDSS J150531.84+174826.1 appears
active environment of the cluster can provide an explanation for
to be more chemically enriched with respect to galaxies of
the location of a galaxy in such a forbidden region in Figure 14
similar mass (see also Figures 11 and 13). Taken altogether,

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure 15. Gas-phase oxygen abundance (left) and N/O ratio (right) vs. the mass-weighted stellar age τ,M as given by STARLIGHT model fitting (colors and symbols
as in Figure 11). An overall positive trend can be seen (see the text for details).
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

these properties of SDSS J150531.84+174826.1 recall those of

the central part of a massive galaxy after having lost its outer
parts (e.g., during a past interaction with the neighbor merger
IC1182). The TDC galaxy IC1182:[S72]d, despite hosting an
old stellar population, does not seem to be that chemically
evolved (especially in N/O) in accordance with the scenario
already proposed for it: the accretion of a large mass of gas
from the late-type galaxy of the merger IC1182. For IC1182,
our spectrum sampled the slightly off-center starburst giving
a gaseous oxygen abundance slightly lower than the average
observed trend in the MZ relation. This fact, together with its low
N/O ratio, suggests that this gas should have an origin external
to the host underlying galaxy. A similar scenario has previously
been invoked by Moles et al. (2004; see also Radovich et al.
2005), who claimed that this gas was provided by the late-type
galaxy of the merger. A detailed study of this complex system
is out of the scope of this work and will be presented in a
forthcoming paper (V. Petropoulou et al. 2011, in preparation).
Two other objects can be seen above the correlation in
Figure 15: the eastern part of the disk of NGC 6045 (NGC 6045e)
and PGC057077b. Both galaxies appear affected by interactions
and show intense SF (the highest SFR values measured for our Figure 16. Difference between gas-phase and stellar oxygen abundances vs.
stellar oxygen abundance 12 + log(O/H) derived from the STARLIGHT mass-
sample after the merger IC1182). Though it has been shown that weighted stellar metallicity Z,m (colors and symbols as in Figure 11).
a high SFR can be a key ingredient in enhancing N/O (Mollá (A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)
et al. 2006), what moves these two objects out of the general
age–N/O relation seems to be related to their derived ages:
the spectra of these objects are sampling just the starbursts, where y = Δ log(O/H)gas− and x = 12 + log(O/H) (χ 2 =
hence the derivation of τ,M should then be dominated by 0.074). Assuming our model fitting hypotheses, this “upper
the contribution of the young starburst; in contrast, the results bound” correlation would mean that for a chemically evolved
derived for other parts of these two galaxies follow the general stellar population of order ∼Z , gas and stars present the same
trend of N/O versus τ,M . metallicity. However, even when the stellar metal content of
In Figure 16, we compare the gas-phase and the stellar oxy- these galaxies goes down, we can see that the observed gas
gen abundances derived for the sample of galaxies. We com- abundance remains close to ∼Z (see also Gallazzi et al. 2005;
pute the latter abundance using the mass-weighted metallicity, Asari et al. 2007). This behavior could reflect the fact that, for
Z,M , given by STARLIGHT, assuming 12+log(O/H) = 8.69 our more massive galaxies, gradients of stellar metallicity can
(Asplund et al. 2009). We plot the difference between gas-phase be more conspicuous than those for gas, consistent with model
and stellar oxygen abundance Δlog(O/H)gas− versus the stellar predictions (Ferrini et al. 1994) suggesting that abundance
oxygen abundance 12 + log(O/H) . In this plot we can see two gradients should flatten with age.
main behaviors. For luminous galaxies (MB  −19), we can For the lower luminosity galaxies we can see that the two
see the following correlation: groups of dwarfs (referred to in Sections 5.2 and 5.3.1) also
split up in Figure 16. The “newcomers” show similar oxygen
y = (7.99 ± 0.47) − (0.925 ± 0.055)x, (5) abundances for gas and stars, whereas the more chemically

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

evolved dwarfs found at high local densities (marked with The oxygen abundances derived for massive galaxies are
circles), hosting older stellar populations (6 Gyr), show that close to solar, and for the more Hα extended spirals, mild or
the gas oxygen abundance is higher than the abundance of flat O/H abundance gradients have been obtained, a result in
the stars by up to 0.3 dex. An outlier to this relation, given line with previous findings by Skillman et al. (1996) for Virgo
that its peculiar formation is already unraveled, is the galaxy spirals. In contrast, for the N/O ratio even oversolar values have
IC1182:[S72]d, for which the derived stellar metallicity is higher been measured for the central part of some galaxies, showing
than the gaseous one. Whether these two behaviors, shown in prominent N/O spatial variations; this picture could result from
Figure 16, result from different chemical evolutionary paths or the effect of gas infall in the center of these galaxies, suffering the
rather reflect the environmental impact of the cluster remains to action of the ICM (Vollmer et al. 2001). Such infall would dilute
be disentangled. the abundance at the central parts of the galaxies, flattening the
O/H gradient, while the N/O ratio is not expected to be affected.
Overall, the question which remains to be explored is whether
5.4. Searching for the Cluster Influence in these spirals are chemically evolved because they reside in such
Hercules SF Galaxies high-density environments or we are just observing an effect
of the morphology density relation (Dressler 1980). Further
A considerable amount of work has been done in order observations are needed to answer this question.
to constrain the physical mechanisms that drive the SFH of Regarding the dwarf/irregular galaxies, they appear to form
galaxies, these mechanisms being either internal to the galaxy two main groups with substantial differences as discussed in the
or related to the environment (Haines et al. 2007; Bretherton previous sections. Overall, all the dwarfs present similar levels
et al. 2010; Weisz et al. 2011). In the cluster environment it of SFR as derived from their Hα luminosities. The group of
has been found that quenching mechanisms can even suppress “newcomers” are the metal poor dwarfs; they present a young
the SF of galaxies with respect to their field counterparts and stellar population (Figure 15), and their stellar and gas metallic-
morphological changes can operate, converting spirals into ities are similar (Figure 16). They avoid the highest local densi-
anemic ones (Balogh et al. 2004). Various processes have ties (Section 5.1), appear located close to the boundaries of the
been proposed to describe the environmental actions on cluster X-ray cluster core, and show bow-shock/offset Hα morpholo-
galaxies, these can be classified into three broad categories: gies. These structures host intense bursts of SF, possibly trac-
(1) galaxy–ICM interactions, (2) galaxy–cluster gravitational ing the contact discontinuity of the ISM of the galaxy with
interactions, and (3) galaxy–galaxy interactions (for a review the X-ray emitting ICM, an observable signature of pressure-
see, e.g., Boselli & Gavazzi 2006; Treu et al. 2003). triggered star formation. The “newcomers” do, however, fol-
In this work, we have searched for possible observable im- low the closed-box model predictions, suggesting that ram-
prints of the cluster environment on the metallicity and the pressure stripping has not yet substantially reduced their H i
chemical history of a sample of SF galaxies in the Hercules gas. Ram-pressure stripping is expected to act on a timescale
cluster. Most of our sample galaxies are located within the cen- ∼5 × 107 yr (Abadi et al. 1999), while typical H ii region life-
tral region of the Hercules cluster (<R200 ) where the cluster times are ∼(5–10) × 106 yr. Based on this scheme we should
potential is expected to be steep, the ICM is measurable, and conclude that the “newcomers” are those dwarfs observed at the
most of the physical mechanisms proposed above are effec- time when they are set to fire by their first encounter with the
tively at work. We have examined the metal content of our ICM, before removal of the galactic gas is accomplished by the
sample galaxies as a function of local density, stellar mass, ICM, and prior to subsequent quenching of SF rendering them
luminosity, and chemical evolution. On the basis of this anal- undetectable in Hα.
ysis, three main subgroups of objects have emerged: (1) the The majority of the dwarf/irregulars populating the highest
more massive SF galaxies (including all spirals), (2) the set local densities of our sample (log Σ4,5 > 1.85) show higher
of dwarf/irregulars labeled “newcomers” in Section 5.3.1, and metallicities for their mass and luminosity, and they appear
(3) a group of more chemically evolved dwarfs residing at the located above the overall MZ and LZ relations (see Figures 11
highest local densities observed in our sample. In addition, and 12). Their gaseous and stellar abundances differ by up to
three dwarf/irregular galaxies, SDSS J160524.27+175329.3, ∼0.3 dex, pointing toward a dominant old stellar population.
SDSS J160556.98+174304.1, and LEDA084724, could not Indeed, as seen in Figure 15 their stellar population presents
be fully ascribed to any of these groups (see the ages exceeding ∼6 Gyr. These galaxies have been also found
Appendix). close to the X-ray cluster core, but their Hα morphologies do not
Massive galaxies (MB  −19) follow the global MZ/LZ suggest ISM–ICM interaction. However, we cannot discard the
relations, though they present evidence of being affected by possibility that they could have been affected by ram-pressure
the cluster environment, judging from their Hα structure/ stripping. Although H i masses are not available for the vast
morphology and their abundance gradients. Most spirals in majority of these objects, if we assume an H i mass upper limit
Hercules show Hα emission (see Hα maps in C09) less extended for them as in Section 5.3.1, many of these galaxies would be
than their optical disks and sometimes offset from the center shifted in Figure 14 out of the canonical closed-box model,
of the stellar continuum. This can be evidence of truncation toward the zone of H i deficiency.
of ionized gas in the disks of these cluster spirals, since we We have seen that high local density is a key parameter
observe star formation occurring mostly in the inner parts. Gas that separates this group of chemically evolved dwarfs from
removal from the outer parts of cluster spirals is believed to the rest of the dwarfs. At these high-density environments
be a consequence of the ISM–ICM interaction. This effect has preprocessing has been claimed to operate under the combined
been observed, e.g., in the Virgo cluster spirals by Koopmann action of tidal forces among group members and the ram-
& Kenney (2004), with over half of their Virgo sample showing pressure by the ICM (Cortese et al. 2006). We suggest that these
truncation of the star-formation in the disks. In fact, ram- dwarf galaxies—overmetallic for their masses—could originate
pressure gas stripping could be effective on our Hercules spirals from enriched material stripped by tidal forces among group
since all are located within R200 .

22
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

members, as has been suggested by Cortese et al. (2006) for the lower densities; some of them seem to be “newcomers” to
group of galaxies falling into A1367. Indeed we have identified the cluster.
a good number of these more metallic dwarfs affected by tidal 2. We have found that our sample of Hercules SF galaxies
interactions. shows well-defined sequences of blue luminosity versus
Mahajan et al. (2011) have found two sets of blue dwarf metallicity and stellar mass versus metallicity (using both
galaxies with different Hα emission properties in the Coma su- O/H and also the N/O ratio), following the general behavior
percluster, presenting strong environmental dependence. These found for SF galaxies. Besides this global behavior, we
authors suggest that the more evolved dwarf population could have found that dwarf/irregular galaxies populating the
be the progenitors of passive dwarf galaxies seen in the centers densest regions seem to crowd the upper part of the
of clusters. The two dwarf galaxy groups we have identified in global sequences, thus providing a source for the dispersion
Hercules could match this scheme. observed in these relations. These more metallic dwarfs
In this work we have studied SF galaxies located in the could be parts of more massive galaxies, fragmented by
cluster central region (<R200 ); as a consequence, the discussion tidal interactions among group members.
of the physical mechanisms affecting galaxies in the cluster 3. Most of the luminous galaxies are chemically evolved
environment is restricted to SF galaxies and could not by any spirals with oxygen abundance close to solar and truncated
means have been exhaustive. It would be necessary to study disks of ionized gas, possibly by the action of ram-pressure
a larger sample covering a more extended area of the cluster stripping. From our spatially resolved spectroscopy we
in order to explore the full action of other processes able to have found that the Hα extended spiral galaxies present
suppress SF, such as starvation of the gaseous component, shallow oxygen abundance gradients, an expected result of
harassment, or interactions with the global cluster potential. possible gas infall at their centers. For the N/O ratio, even
An extended Hα survey reaching up to the Hercules cluster values over solar have been obtained for the central parts of
periphery is in progress. This will enable us to study in depth some galaxies, and a significant spatial variation has been
the interesting general environment of the Hercules cluster. Bird observed.
et al. (1995) using optical and X-ray data suggested the presence 4. A detailed study of the chemical history of the sample galax-
of at least three distinct subclusters in the Hercules cluster, ies has been performed, combining information on their
the central A2151C, eastern A2151E, and northern A2151N gas-phase abundances, H i content, and stellar mass. Most
(see Figure 2). These authors suggested that the A2151E and of the dwarf galaxies with available H i mass seem to be
A2151N subclusters have recently undergone a merger event. “newcomers” to the cluster and appear consistent with the
Additionally, the velocity distribution of A2151C points toward predictions of the closed box model. This fact agrees with
the existence of two subgroups, one possibly originating from the scenario in which these galaxies experience a pressure-
A2151N via infall. The X-ray emission is associated with the triggered starburst right before the ram-pressure stripping
two galaxy groups in the central subcluster (Figure 2). All this sweeps away their gas component. The rest of the galaxies
information supports the idea that Hercules is at a relatively with H i measurement on average show lower values of gas
early stage of development. fractions, though most of them are still consistent with the
loci defined by samples of field galaxies.
6. SUMMARY 5. The properties of the underlying stellar population, such as
stellar age and stellar metallicity, have been explored and
The Hercules cluster is one of the more exciting nearby dense compared with the gas-phase metallicity. The “newcomer”
environments, showing abundant sub-structures unraveled in dwarfs present a young stellar population, and their stellar
X-ray emission and broadband imaging. This cluster consti- and gas metallicities are similar. The more metallic dwarf
tutes an ideal laboratory in which to explore the effects of the galaxies host an old stellar population, resembling the
environment on galaxy evolution. We have studied environmen- evolved blue dwarfs referred to by Mahajan et al. (2011).
tal effects on the metallicity and the chemical evolution of 31 An overall positive trend has been found in the gas-phase
SF cluster galaxies. oxygen abundance versus the mass-weighted stellar age
Spatially resolved spectroscopy has been obtained for a τ,M , which becomes more prominent in the case of the
sample of SF galaxies and spectral synthesis model fitting has N/O ratio.
been performed for all the spectra analyzed in order to provide
We have learned that the local environment of a galaxy is
an effective correction of the underlying stellar absorption to
one of the key parameters in understanding its chemical history.
emission-line spectra, as well as to derive the characteristic
In the variety shown in the Hercules cluster ecosystem we have
properties of the galaxy stellar populations. Line fluxes and
seen galaxy–galaxy interactions, galaxy ISM–ICM interactions,
chemical abundances of O/H and N/O have been obtained for
and candidates of tidal dwarfs galaxies. Further observations
all the galaxies, and whenever possible for different parts of
are needed to disentangle the roles of all of these environmental
galaxies, of the sample.
effects from the expected intrinsic galaxy evolution.
The main conclusions of this work can be summarized as
follows.
V.P. thanks Enrique Perez Montero, Ricardo Amorin, Ovidiu
1. From the study of the metallicity versus galaxy local Vaduvescu, Ana Monreal-Ibero, and Josep Maria Solanes for
density we have seen a dual behavior separating the their help and suggestions. We thank the anonymous referee for
dwarfs from the more luminous galaxies. The luminous the useful suggestions that helped to improve the paper. V.P. also
galaxies have metallicities ∼Z and reside at all densities thanks the Osservatorio di Arcetri, the Centro de Astrofı́sica de
studied in this work. The dwarfs found at higher local La Palma, and the Department of Astronomy in the University
densities (log Σ4,5 > 1.8) are found to be more metallic of Athens for hospitality during the stays to carry out part of this
(12 + log (O/H) > 8.4), while the observed less metallic work. Special thanks are owed to M. Kontizas and E. Kontizas
dwarfs (12 + log (O/H) < 8.4 are found preferentially at for their support.

23
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure A1. Integrated 1D observed spectra for each galaxy or part of a galaxy by INT and WHT.

V.P. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under grant FPU Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion
AP2006-04622. We also acknowledge financial support Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract
by the Spanish PNAYA projects ESTALLIDOS (grant with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We
AYA2007-67965-C02) and CSD2006 00070 1st Science with also have benefited from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
GTC from the CONSOLIDER 2010 programme of the database. Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II was provided by
Spanish MICINN. We thank the Spanish CSIC for financial the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions,
support (Proyecto Intramural 200850I018). P.P. is supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of
a Ciencia 2008 contract, funded by FCT/MCTES (Portugal) Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
and POPH/FSE (EC). the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and
The INT and WHT are operated on the island of La Palma by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS
the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque was managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the
de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofı́sica de Canarias. Participating Institutions. IRAF is distributed by the National
We acknowledge CAT for the allocation of telescope time to this Optical Astronomical Observatory, which is operated by the
project. We thank the support astronomers of WHT (ING) for Associated Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under
Service Time observations on 2009 June 26–27 and the directors cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
of IAC and ING for the allocation of DDT on 2009 July 19. Facilities: ING:Newton, ING:Herschel

24
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure A1. (Continued)

APPENDIX also distinguished faint tidal features and plumes. In addition,

to the west of the merging system, at a projected distance of
NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL GALAXIES ∼60 kpc, there is the dwarf galaxy SDSS J160531.84+174826.1,
A.1. Interacting Galaxies which has been claimed (Dong et al. 2007) to be a Seyfert 1
AGN (but see Section 4). Dickey (1997) reports a long H i
IC1182, IC1182:[S72]d, and SDSS J160531.84+174826.1. structure extending northwest of IC1182, creating a bridge of
IC1182 is a late merger that undergoes vigorous nuclear starburst H i clumps toward SDSSJ150531.84+174826.1 (see Figure 3(a)
activity with a star formation rate, estimated from its infrared of IP03), although the galaxy SDSSJ150531.84+174826.1 itself
and extinction-corrected Hα luminosity to be between 11 and was not detected as a consequence of the velocity cutoff
∼90 M yr−1 (Radovich et al. 2005; Moles et al. 2004). IC1182 (9820 km s−1 ) of the spectrometer used by Dickey (1997).
shows an extended (∼60 kpc) stellar tail to the east, where a These lines of evidence point toward a physical connection
tidal dwarf candidate IC1182:[S72]d is discernible (identified by among the three galaxies. A forthcoming work will discuss
Iglesias-Páramo et al. 2003; named ce-061 after Dickey 1997). the global picture of this system (V. Petropoulou et al. 2011, in
To the north of the system and to a comparable distance there are preparation).

25
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure A1. (Continued)

NGC 6050. It has long been considered a collision between NGC 6045. This edge-on spiral could be interacting with a
two spiral galaxies (NGC 6050A and NGC 6050B). From our smaller spiral companion located east of it. On its Hα map (C09)
long-slit spectrum, we found that these two galaxies show we can see intense starburst activity on the east part of the galaxy
important velocity differences (∼1600 km s−1 ) suggesting that disk, probably triggered by this interaction. Huang & Sarazin
they might represent simply a chance galaxy alignment. On (1996) suggested a possible interaction of NGC 6045 with the
the other hand, to the north of the system we have identified radio galaxy NGC 6047, which is about 1. 6 (∼74 kpc) to the
another galaxy on the basis of its underlying stellar component south. Dickey (1997) reports that in H i only half of the disk is
(clearly seen in the 2MASS imaging) and its SDSS spectrum. visible. From our long-slit spectroscopy we find a large velocity
This galaxy is probably in interaction with NGC 6050A. Dickey gradient along the disk of the galaxy, and half of the disk shows
(1997) quotes an H i mass for the NGC 6050 system. We velocity out of the cutoff of the spectrometer used by Dickey
attributed the H i mass exclusively to NGC 6050B because (1997).
NGC 6050A is out of the velocity cutoff of the spectrometer PGC057064. This peculiar galaxy, until now considered one
used by Dickey (1997). The H i distribution is centered on galaxy, has turned out to be a merger of two galaxies, which
NGC 6050B. on our long-slit spectrum show different rotation velocities.

26
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure A1. (Continued)

We have considered the corresponding 2D spectrum parts in the continuum emission. In order to check for velocity
separately. The 1D spectrum PGC057064a corresponds to the gradients and differences in the chemical content between
merger member located NW and PGC057064b corresponds these two regions, we separated the 2D spectrum in two
to the merger member located SE. The two dwarf galaxies corresponding 1D spectra. The important continuum emission
comprising this merger do not show any significant chemical difference of the 1D spectra is shown in Figure A1. From our
variation. emission-line analysis we do not find any significant velocity
variation between the two different galaxy parts, nor any
A.2. Peculiar Galaxies difference in the chemical abundances. The difference in the
continuum emission is attributed then to the high extinction
PGC057077. This is a peculiar galaxy previously cataloged suffered by both the stellar population and the gas in the
as an elliptical in LEDA. The C09 Hα survey showed that NW part of the galaxy, which correspond to our (a) spectrum
PGC057077 is a very intense and compact Hα emitter with part. This peculiar galaxy is situated close to the edge of
fHα = 87 × 10−15 erg cm−2 s−1 and EW = 148 Å. Although the principal X-ray emitting region, at 650 kpc from the
the galaxy is very compact and does not show any structural X-ray center. In the NE part of the galaxy there is a low
properties, we noted on its g − i map, illustrated in Figure A2, surface blue plume that could point toward the existence of
a conspicuous color gradient. In our long-slit spectrum we a faint companion. The existing data are not conclusive as
were able to identify two regions with important differences to whether it could have been the ICM–ISM interaction or

27
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

Figure A1. (Continued)

a galaxy merger that triggered the unusual starburst of this is situated almost one Abell radius away from the cluster center.
galaxy. Further mid-infrared observations would be of interest There has been an SN explosion reported by Zwicky et al. (1969)
there. in the east part of this irregular galaxy. There is a long plume
SDSSJ160520.58+175210.6 appears to be embedded into extending toward the southeast detected in the optical images
the H i structure assigned to the galaxy [D97]ce-200 as well as in H i by Dickey (1997). The west part of the disk
(SDSSJ160520.64+ 175201.5); Dickey (1997) reports that this hosts a very intense starburst activity as can be seen in its Hα
system looks like the Magellanic Clouds and the Magellanic EW map in Figure A2.
Stream. However, these two galaxies have a velocity difference SDSSJ160524.27+175329.3. It has typical Hα morphology
of 1300 km s−1 , a fact that renders unlikely an actual interaction and the colors of a blue compact galaxy. This compact starburst,
between the two. The velocity of the H i cloud is very similar to located close to the X-ray maximum in the center of the
the velocity of the galaxy [D97]ce-200. Hercules cluster, could have resulted from the compression of
LEDA084703. This is one of the two galaxies in this sample the interstellar gas of a dwarf galaxy when entering the cluster
situated in the substructure almost one Abell radius SW of the core. Similar compact starburst galaxies have been found in the
cluster center. It is a quite blue galaxy, classified Sd/Irr, and it cores of other nearby clusters by Reverte et al. (2007).

28
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

0.05

0.04
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Spatial increament (pixels)

0.06

0.05
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.04

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.00
0 20 40 60 80 100
Spatial increament (pixels)

0.20

0.15
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.10

0.05

0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Spatial increament (pixels)

Figure A2. First column shows the spatial profiles of the Hα line (continuous) and nearby continuum (dashed line) along the slit extracted from the 2D spectra for the
galaxies showing rich spatial structure. The different sub-regions used to divide their 2D spectra into different 1D spectra are shown. The second and third columns
show, respectively, the color (g  − i  ) maps and the Hα EW maps, with the slit position overplotted.
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

SDSS J160556.98+174304.1. The Hα map of this dwarf one Abell radius SW of the cluster center. This galaxy has
galaxy shows an off-center starburst. Additionally, this galaxy a close companion, the galaxy SDSS J160305.24+171136.1.
is located close to the edge of the primary X-ray maximum in The disturbed Hα structure of both could suggest a possible
the cluster center and presents a large velocity difference with interaction.
NGC 6041A. This evidence could suggest that the starburst has SDSSJ160523.66+174832.3 is located very close to the
been triggered by the effect of the hot ICM. Dickey (1997) faint galaxy SDSSJ160523.67+174828.8 (22 and 23 in
has not detected molecular gas for this galaxy, suggesting that C09). The Hα map as well as the g − i color map of
the ram-pressure stripping could have already taken off its SDSSJ160523.66+174832.3 seem to reveal a disturbed mor-
molecular gas. phology. It is possible that the two galaxies are interacting,
LEDA084724 presents an extended knotty Hα structure although SDSSJ 160523.67+174828.8 does not have spectro-
NW, in the direction toward the X-ray cluster center. This scopic data and SDSS provide a photo-z estimate of z =
morphology could be suggestive of a starburst triggered by the 0.15 ± 0.02, nominally not consistent with the velocity range of
ICM. Dickey (1997) has not detected molecular gas for this the Hercules cluster.
galaxy. [DKP87]160310.21+175956.7. The Hα map of this galaxy
SDSSJ160304.20+171126.7 is one of the two SF galaxies of shows an intense starburst event to its southeast part. Towards
this spectroscopic sample situated in the substructure almost this direction there is projected a faint galagy. However, the close

29
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

0.08

0.06
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.04

0.02

0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Spatial increament (pixels)

0.14

0.12

0.10
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00
0 50 100 150
Spatial increament (pixels)

0.20

0.15
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.10

0.05

0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25
Spatial increament (pixels)

Figure A2. (Continued)

30
The Astrophysical Journal, 734:32 (32pp), 2011 June 10 Petropoulou et al.

0.020

0.015
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.010

0.005

0.000
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Spatial increament (pixels)

0.05

0.04
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Spatial increament (pixels)

0.05

0.04
Flux 10-15 (erg cm-2s-1)

0.03

0.02

0.01

0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Spatial increament (pixels)

Figure A2. (Continued)

companion galaxy has no spectroscopic data and the photo-z Barnes, J. E., & Hernquist, L. 1996, ApJ, 471, 115
estimate provided by SDSS z = 0.25 ± 0.06 is not consistent Bell, E. F., McIntosh, D. H., Katz, N., & Weinberg, M. D. 2003, ApJS, 149, 289
with the velocity range of Hercules cluster. Bird, C. M., Davis, D. S., & Beers, T. C. 1995, AJ, 109, 920
Blanton, M. R., & Roweis, S. 2007, AJ, 133, 734
SDSSJ160547.17+173501.6. This has turned out to be a back- Boselli, A., & Gavazzi, G. 2006, PASP, 118, 517
ground galaxy with z = 0.12 ± 0.01. The various SDSS photo- Bresolin, F., Gieren, W., Kudritzki, R.-P., Pietrzyński, G., Urbaneja, M. A., &
z estimates were 0.06 ± 0.01, 0.06 ± 0.05 and 0.10 ± 0.04, Carraro, G. 2009, ApJ, 700, 309
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