JADES: Evolution of nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies from z ~ 1.5 − 7
18 affiliations
- 1Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Copenhagen ,
- 2Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building , Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH ,
- 3Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen ,
- 4Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 96054 ,
- 5Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile , Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, 8320000 ,
- 6Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT ,
- 7Scuola Normale Superiore , Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126 Pisa ,
- 8Sorbonne Université , CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis bd Arago, F-75014 Paris ,
- 9Centre for Astrophysics Research, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire , Hatfield AL10 9AB ,
- 10Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 ,
- 11Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Str, Baltimore, MD 21218 ,
- 12Cavendish Laboratory – Astrophysics Group, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 OHE ,
- 13Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA ,
- 14Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Str, Cambridge, MA 02138 ,
- 15Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 ,
- 16Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) , Gießenbachstraße 1, D-85748 Garching ,
- 17NSF National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 ,
- 18NRC Herzberg , 5071 West Saanich Rd, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7 ,
Abstract
We present nitrogen abundance measurements based on the low-ionisation [N ii] λ6583 emission line for 588 galaxies between 1.5 < z < 7.0 from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We detect the temperature-sensitive [O iii] λ4363 auroral line in 40 galaxies in our sample, affording Te-based abundances for this subset. We find that the average N/O abundance ratio in this Te −based low-metallicity sample is at least 0.1 dex higher than z ~ 0 samples. In particular, we find significant scatter toward high N/O, with five galaxies being identified with enhanced nitrogen abundances (log (N/O) > −1.1) at low-metallicity (12 + log (O/H) < 8.0) from Te-based measurements. Meanwhile, applying strong-line abundance measurements to the remainder of our sample reveals a further 14 candidate galaxies passing these abundance cuts, implying that around 13 % of 12 + log (O/H) < 8.0 galaxies at these redshifts are nitrogen-enhanced at this level. We find that N/O abundance in low-metallicity systems correlates with SFR, ΣSFR, and Σ M*at high redshift, while only in high-metallicity systems does a correlation with M* emerge. Despite healthy representation of these ‘moderately nitrogen-enhanced’ galaxies (−1.1 < log (N/O) ≤ −0.6), no galaxies in our low-metallicity [N ii]-based sample are identified as having log (N/O) > −0.6, abundances that are typical of high-redshift N iii]- and N iv]-emitters. This demonstrates that the extreme nitrogen enhancements seen in some N iii]- and N iv]-emitters are only attained during the most extreme starbursts. This suggests that these elevated abundances are caused by enrichment from young massive stars in extreme environments and that the impact of this enrichment pathway is milder, though still important, for high-redshift systems on the star-forming main sequence.
Related
- Tiny Galaxies, Mighty Nitrogen: Linking Chemical Anomalies to Compact Galaxies at High Redshift using JWST/JADES
- The Stellar Populations and Rest-frame Colors of Star-forming Galaxies at z ≈ 8: Exploring the Impact of Filter Choice and Star Formation History Assumption with JADES
- StAGE: Stellar Archaeology-driven Galaxy Evolution II. Binary Black Hole Mergers in Quiescent Galaxies and their Star-forming Progenitors
- Inflow-driven galaxy evolution - II: A hierarchy in the scaling relations of star-forming galaxies
- ALMA2040: Understanding the Early Assembly of Galaxies - The Formation of Star-Forming Clumps and their Role in Shaping Galaxy Evolution
BibTeX
@article{cameron2026jades,
title = {{JADES: Evolution of nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies from z ~ 1.5 − 7}},
author = {Alex J. Cameron and Courtney Carreira and Charlotte Simmonds and Andrew J. Bunker and Aayush Saxena and Stefano Carniani and S. Charlot and Jacopo Chevallard and Emma Curtis-Lake and Kevin Hainline and Ryan Hausen and Xihan Ji and Zhiyuan Ji and Benjamin D. Johnson and Pierluigi Rinaldi and Brant E. Robertson and Jan Scholtz and Maddie S. Silcock and Sandro Tacchella and James Trussler and Hannah Übler and Christina C. Williams and Christopher N. A. Willmer and Chris Willott and Joris Witstok},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag1575},
eprint = {2601.15964},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05760741v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - JADES: Evolution of nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies from z ~ 1.5 − 7
AU - Alex J. Cameron
AU - Courtney Carreira
AU - Charlotte Simmonds
AU - Andrew J. Bunker
AU - Aayush Saxena
AU - Stefano Carniani
AU - S. Charlot
AU - Jacopo Chevallard
AU - Emma Curtis-Lake
AU - Kevin Hainline
AU - Ryan Hausen
AU - Xihan Ji
AU - Zhiyuan Ji
AU - Benjamin D. Johnson
AU - Pierluigi Rinaldi
AU - Brant E. Robertson
AU - Jan Scholtz
AU - Maddie S. Silcock
AU - Sandro Tacchella
AU - James Trussler
AU - Hannah Übler
AU - Christina C. Williams
AU - Christopher N. A. Willmer
AU - Chris Willott
AU - Joris Witstok
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/19
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stag1575
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05760741v1
AB - We present nitrogen abundance measurements based on the low-ionisation [N ii] λ6583 emission line for 588 galaxies between 1.5 < z < 7.0 from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We detect the temperature-sensitive [O iii] λ4363 auroral line in 40 galaxies in our sample, affording Te-based abundances for this subset. We find that the average N/O abundance ratio in this Te −based low-metallicity sample is at least 0.1 dex higher than z ~ 0 samples. In particular, we find significant scatter toward high N/O, with five galaxies being identified with enhanced nitrogen abundances (log (N/O) > −1.1) at low-metallicity (12 + log (O/H) < 8.0) from Te-based measurements. Meanwhile, applying strong-line abundance measurements to the remainder of our sample reveals a further 14 candidate galaxies passing these abundance cuts, implying that around 13 % of 12 + log (O/H) < 8.0 galaxies at these redshifts are nitrogen-enhanced at this level. We find that N/O abundance in low-metallicity systems correlates with SFR, ΣSFR, and Σ _M_*at high redshift, while only in high-metallicity systems does a correlation with M* emerge. Despite healthy representation of these ‘moderately nitrogen-enhanced’ galaxies (−1.1 < log (N/O) ≤ −0.6), no galaxies in our low-metallicity [N ii]-based sample are identified as having log (N/O) > −0.6, abundances that are typical of high-redshift N iii]- and N iv]-emitters. This demonstrates that the extreme nitrogen enhancements seen in some N iii]- and N iv]-emitters are only attained during the most extreme starbursts. This suggests that these elevated abundances are caused by enrichment from young massive stars in extreme environments and that the impact of this enrichment pathway is milder, though still important, for high-redshift systems on the star-forming main sequence.
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
SN - 1365-8711
ER -