The evolution of gas-phase metallicity and resolved abundances in star-forming galaxies at z approximate to 0.6-1.8
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We present an analysis of the chemical abundance properties of approximate to 650 star-forming galaxies at z approximate to 0.6-1.8. Using integral-field observations from the K-band multi-object spectrograph (KMOS), we quantify the [N II]/H alpha emission-line ratio, a proxy for the gas-phase oxygen abundance within the interstellar medium. We define the stellar mass-metallicity relation at z approximate to 0.6-1.0 and z approximate to 1.2-1.8 and analyse the correlation between the scatter in the relation and fundamental galaxy properties (e.g. H alpha star formation rate, H alpha specific star formation rate, rotation dominance, stellar continuum half-light radius, and Hubble-type morphology). We find that for a given stellar mass, more highly star-forming, larger, and irregular galaxies have lower gas-phase metallicities, which may be attributable to their lower surface mass densities and the higher gas fractions of irregular systems. We measure the radial dependence of gas-phase metallicity in the galaxies, establishing a median, beam smearing corrected, metallicity gradient of Delta Z/Delta R = 0.002 +/- 0.004 dex kpc(-1), indicating on average there is no significant dependence on radius. The metallicity gradient of a galaxy is independent of its rest-frame optical morphology, whilst correlating with its stellar mass and specific star formation rate, in agreement with an inside-out model of galaxy evolution, as well as its rotation dominance. We quantify the evolution of metallicity gradients, comparing the distribution of Delta Z/Delta R in our sample with numerical simulations and observations at z approximate to 0-3. Galaxies in our sample exhibit flatter metallicity gradients than local star-forming galaxies, in agreement with numerical models in which stellar feedback plays a crucial role redistributing metals.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 500 |
Issue number | 3 |
Pages (from-to) | 4229-4247 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISSN | 0035-8711 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 22 Jan 2021 |
- galaxies: abundances, galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, galaxies: high-reshift, DIGITAL SKY SURVEY, MASS-METALLICITY, SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY, CHEMICAL EVOLUTION, COSMIC EVOLUTION, GRADIENTS, STELLAR, ORIGIN, MODEL, KMOS
Research areas
ID: 299501462