Abundance determinations in extragalactic HII regions

Abstract

The abundance determinations in extragalactic H װ regions are reviewed. The discussion is mainly focused on the different variants of the strong line method (calibrations). However, we do not list and consider in details a numerous relations suggested to convert metallicity-sensitive emission-line combinations into metallicity or temperature estimates. Instead we analyse the foundations of difierent types of calibrations and problems which those calibrations encounter. The empirical (defined by the H װ regions with well-measured abundances) and theoretical or model (defined by the set of photoionization models of H װ regions) metallicity scales are discussed.