The Relation Between [OIII]/H$beta$ and Specific Star Formation Rate in Galaxies at $z sim 2$


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Recent surveys have identified a seemingly ubiquitous population of galaxies with elevated [OIII]/H$beta$ emission line ratios at $z > 1$, though the nature of this phenomenon continues to be debated. The [OIII]/H$beta$ line ratio is of interest because it is a main component of the standard diagnostic tools used to differentiate between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and star-forming galaxies, as well as the gas-phase metallicity indicators $O_{23}$ and $R_{23}$. Here, we investigate the primary driver of increased [OIII]/H$beta$ ratios by median-stacking rest-frame optical spectra for a sample of star-forming galaxies in the 3D-HST survey in the redshift range $zsim1.4-2.2$. Using $N = 4220$ star-forming galaxies, we stack the data in bins of mass and specific star formation rates (sSFR) respectively. After accounting for stellar Balmer absorption, we measure [OIII]$lambda5007$AA/H$beta$ down to $mathrm{M} sim 10^{9.2} mathrm{M_odot}$ and sSFR $sim 10^{-9.6} mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, more than an order of magnitude lower than previous work at similar redshifts. We find an offset of $0.59pm0.05$ dex between the median ratios at $zsim2$ and $zsim0$ at fixed stellar mass, in agreement with existing studies. However, with respect to sSFR, the $z sim 2$ stacks all lie within 1$sigma$ of the median SDSS ratios, with an average offset of only $-0.06pm 0.05$. We find that the excitation properties of galaxies are tightly correlated with their sSFR at both $zsim2$ and $zsim0$, with a relation that appears to be roughly constant over the last 10 Gyr of cosmic time.

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