Physical conditions and element abundances in galaxies at redshift 0.001<z<3.4 : evolution trends

Abstract

We have collected an heterogeneous sample of galaxies at redshifts 0.001<z<3.35 with the aim of exploring the evolution of the physical parameters and of the element abundances calculated by modelling the observed spectra. The evolution picture which results from our calculations shows that: 1) the emitting gaseous clouds in both active galactic nuclei (AGN) and starburst (SB) galaxies have a density broad peak at z=0.5 becoming less dense and more elongated with time. 2) The Ha flux emitted from the AGN clouds has a maximum at z= 0.1. 3) The observed star temperatures in SBs increase with time, indicating younger stars in local galaxies. 4) The O/H relative abundances show splitting between solar and 0.1 solar at 0.3<z<3. N/H also shows splitting in this z range but it also has a broad flat maximum between z=0.1 and z=0.001. 5) The AGN narrow line region and the regions surrounding the SB show fragmentation at z >0.35. 6) Metallicity (in terms of O/H) correlates with Ha luminosity (La) and therefore with the star formation rate with different trends regarding SBs and AGNs for La > 10^{41} erg s^{-1}. A rough correlation is seen also for N/H. There seems to be no correlation for low luminosity galaxies.