SDSS-V LVM: A Spatially Resolved Study of the Physical Conditions and the Chemical Abundance Discrepancy in the Lagoon Nebula (M 8)

Abstract The abundance discrepancy problem refers to the systematic differences observed between chemical abundances derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs) and recombination lines (RLs) of heavy ions. It remains a major unsolved problem in the study of ionized nebulae and is quantified by the abundance discrepancy factor (ADF). In this work, we present a deep integral field spectroscopic data set of the entire Lagoon Nebula (M8), obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V Local Volume Mapper project, at a spatial resolution of 0.21 pc spaxel −1 . This unique data set allows us, for the first time, to investigate spatially resolved maps of oxygen RL intensities (O ii V1), together with maps of H i RLs, heavy-ion CELs, and dust attenuation across a whole H ii region. We map the electron temperature using CELs and RLs of O 2+ and CELs of N + , and we map the electron density using CELs of S + . We derive CEL-based ionic and elemental oxygen abundances and, for the first time, a spatially resolved map of the RL-based O 2+ abundance in an H ii region. These measurements enable construction of the first spatially resolved ADF(O 2+ ) map of an H ii region and yield a global mean ADF of ∼0.47 ± 0.02 dex. Focusing on the central region of M8, where ionization is dominated by the O-type star Her 36, we find radial variations in the ADF, ranging between ∼0.35 and 0.50 dex. Our findings provide novel constraints on the spatial behavior and origin of the abundance discrepancy in the H ii regions.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2026-04-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae563a
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

SDSS-V LVM: A Spatially Resolved Study of the Physical Conditions and the Chemical Abundance Discrepancy in the Lagoon Nebula (M 8)

Evelyn J. Johnston, D. Minniti, Guillermo A. Blanc, Ravi Sankrit et al.
The Astrophysical Journal
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
article

SDSS-V LVM: A Spatially Resolved Study of the Physical Conditions and the Chemical Abundance Discrepancy in the Lagoon Nebula (M 8)

Evelyn J. Johnston, D. Minniti, Guillermo A. Blanc, Ravi Sankrit, Juna A. Kollmeier, Niv Drory, Dmitry Bizyaev, Amy Jones, Enrico Congiu, A. Mejía-Narváez, S. F. Sánchez, Oleg V. Egorov, Natascha Sattler, Christophe Morisset, Evgeniya Egorova, Amrita Singh, R J Zermeño, J.E. Méndez-Delgado, Alexandre Roman-Lopes, Kathryn Kreckel, Nimisha Kumari, José G. Fernández-Trincado
article en

Abstract

Abstract The abundance discrepancy problem refers to the systematic differences observed between chemical abundances derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs) and recombination lines (RLs) of heavy ions. It remains a major unsolved problem in the study of ionized nebulae and is quantified by the abundance discrepancy factor (ADF). In this work, we present a deep integral field spectroscopic data set of the entire Lagoon Nebula (M8), obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V Local Volume Mapper project, at a spatial resolution of 0.21 pc spaxel −1 . This unique data set allows us, for the first time, to investigate spatially resolved maps of oxygen RL intensities (O ii V1), together with maps of H i RLs, heavy-ion CELs, and dust attenuation across a whole H ii region. We map the electron temperature using CELs and RLs of O 2+ and CELs of N + , and we map the electron density using CELs of S + . We derive CEL-based ionic and elemental oxygen abundances and, for the first time, a spatially resolved map of the RL-based O 2+ abundance in an H ii region. These measurements enable construction of the first spatially resolved ADF(O 2+ ) map of an H ii region and yield a global mean ADF of ∼0.47 ± 0.02 dex. Focusing on the central region of M8, where ionization is dominated by the O-type star Her 36, we find radial variations in the ADF, ranging between ∼0.35 and 0.50 dex. Our findings provide novel constraints on the spatial behavior and origin of the abundance discrepancy in the H ii regions.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 1001(2)
New Mexico State University (US), Space Telescope Science Institute (US), Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (MX), University of Toronto (CA), Carnegie Institution for Science (US), Lomonosov Moscow State University (RU), Heidelberg University (DE), Universidad Católica del Norte (CL), Clínica Las Condes (CL), Chinese Academy of Science South America Center for Astronomy (CL), Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CA), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (FR), Carnegie Observatories (US), European Southern Observatory (CL), Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (ES), Vatican Observatory (IT), University of La Serena (CL), The University of Texas at Austin (US), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX), Universidad Diego Portales (CL)
Space Telescope Science Institute, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Comité Mixto ESO-Gobierno de Chile, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
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