Stacked spectra of SDSS star forming galaxies

We employed the direct method to measure the metallicities of ~200000 star-forming galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that were stacked in bins of (1) stellar mass and (2) both stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR) to significantly enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the weak [OIII]{lambda}4363 and [OII]{lambda}{lambda}7320,7330 auroral lines required to apply the direct method.

These metallicity measurements span three decades in stellar mass from log(M_*_/M_{sun}_)=7.4-10.5, which allows the direct method mass-metallicity relation to simultaneously capture the high-mass turnover and extend a full decade lower in mass than previous studies that employed more uncertain strong line methods. The direct method mass-metallicity relation rises steeply at low mass (O/H{prop.to}M_*_^1/2^) until it turns over at log(M_*_/M_{sun}_)=8.9 and asymptotes to 12+log(O/H)=8.8 at high mass.