English

Shape of Direct-Method Mass-Metallicity Relation with JWST: Fast-Track Nitrogen and Helium Enrichment

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-05-08 v1

Abstract

We investigate the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) from z=1 to z=9 using electron-temperature-based gas-phase metallicities and examine how auroral-line selection, star-formation history, and secondary abundances affect its interpretation in the early Universe. We compile a homogeneous sample of 286 star-forming galaxies observed with JWST/NIRSpec medium resolution spectroscopy, selected through detections of the [O\,III]\,λ\lambda4363 auroral line from the public DAWN JWST Archive (DJA). We derive electron densities, temperatures, and oxygen abundances using the direct TeT_e method, along with relative N/O and He/H abundances. Stellar masses are obtained via SED fitting and star-formation rates from reddening-corrected Balmer emission lines. To quantify auroral-line selection biases, we additionally stack galaxy spectra with and without auroral-line detections, extending the MZR into regimes inaccessible to individual measurements. The auroral-line-detected sample spans log(M*/Msun)=6.77-10.5 and 12+log(O/H)=6.9-8.4. A linear fit gives an MZR slope of γ\gamma=0.38 ±\pm 0.09. Stacked galaxies without individual λ\lambda4363 detections define a relation with a similar slope but metallicities higher by ~0.2-0.3 dex at fixed stellar mass. Auroral-line detections also show higher SFRs, larger equivalent widths, and larger offsets from the fundamental metallicity relation, whereas non-detections appear more chemically evolved and closer to it. Several stacked bins also show enhanced N/O and He/H ratios. These results indicate that the low-mass high-redshift MZR traced by JWST is shaped by both recent star-formation history and auroral-line selection effects. Auroral lines preferentially identify high-EW, high-sSFR galaxies in the low-metallicity envelope, whereas non-detections reveal a more enriched sequence closer to the metallicity expected from the FMR.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.05327,
  title  = {Shape of Direct-Method Mass-Metallicity Relation with JWST: Fast-Track Nitrogen and Helium Enrichment},
  author = {A. Giménez-Alcázar and R. Amorín and J. M. Vilchez},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.05327},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Submitted to A&A. 19 pages, 19 figures