Journal article
The evolution of gas-phase metallicity and resolved abundances in star-forming galaxies at z ≈ 0.6 – 1.8
- Abstract:
- We present an analysis of the chemical abundance properties of ≈650 star-forming galaxies at z ≈ 0.6 – 1.8. Using integral-field observations from the K - band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS), we quantify the [N II]/Hα emission-line ratio, a proxy for the gas-phase Oxygen abundance within the interstellar medium. We define the stellar mass – metallicity relation at z ≈ 0.6 – 1.0 and z ≈ 1.2 – 1.8 and analyse the correlation between the scatter in the relation and fundamental galaxy properties (e.g. Hα star-formation rate, Hα 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 ΔZ/ΔR= 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 ΔZ/ΔR in our sample with numerical simulations and observations at z ≈ 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.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, 8.9MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1093/mnras/staa3400
Authors
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Journal:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society More from this journal
- Volume:
- 500
- Issue:
- 3
- Pages:
- 4229–4247
- Publication date:
- 2020-10-31
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-10-28
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1365-2966
- ISSN:
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0035-8711
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1140257
- Local pid:
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pubs:1140257
- Deposit date:
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2020-11-02
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Gillman, S et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2020
- Rights statement:
- © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model.
- Notes:
- This is the publisher's version of the article. The final version is available online from Oxford University Press at: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3400
- Licence:
- Other
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