Temperature inhomogeneities in Mrk71 can not be discarded

Abstract

In a very recent work, [1] claim that the scenario of temperature inhomogeneities proposed by [2] ($t2$ > 0) is not able to explain the O$^{2+}$/H$^{+}$ abundance discrepancy observed between the calculations based on the optical [OIII] collisional excited lines (CELs) and the OII recombination lines (RLs) in the star forming galaxy Mrk71. In this work, we show that conclusions of [1] depend on several assumptions on the absolute flux calibration, reddening correction and the adopted electron density. In fact, using the data of [1] in a different way and even considering their 1{\sigma} uncertainties, it is possible to reach the opposite conclusion, consistent with $t2$ = $0.097 ^{+0.008}_{-0.009}$. Therefore, the existence of temperature inhomogeneities causing the O$^{2+}$/H$^{+}$ abundance discrepancy in Mrk71 can not be ruled out.