Constraints on star-formation driven galaxy winds from the mass-metallicity relation at z=0

Francesco Shankar (MPA); Molly S. Peeples (Ohio State; UCLA)

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Constraints on star-formation driven galaxy winds from the mass-metallicity relation at z=0

Molly S. Peeples (Ohio State, UCLA), Francesco Shankar (MPA)

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Submitted 21 Jul 2010

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim Despite systematic uncertainties in the normalization and slope of the mass-metallicity relation, we show that the metal expulsion efficiency zetaw=(Zw/Zg)etaw (where Zw is the wind metallicitiy and Zg is the interstellar medium metallicity) must be both high and scale steeply with mass.

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arXiv ID1007.3743 (version 2)

Pith ID63LX42TC, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationFrancesco Shankar (MPA), Molly S. Peeples (Ohio State, UCLA). "Constraints on star-formation driven galaxy winds from the mass-metallicity relation at z=0." arXiv:1007.3743 (2010). https://pith.science/paper/63LX42TC

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What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.05 · states limitation 0.86 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.25 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.93 · compares with prior results 0.91 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

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arXiv listing abstract v2. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

We extend a chemical evolution model relating galaxy stellar mass and gas-phase oxygen abundance (the mass-metallicity relation) to explicitly consider the mass-dependence of galaxy gas fractions and outflows. Using empirically derived scalings of galaxy mass with halo virial velocity in conjunction with the most recent observations of z~0 total galaxy cold gas fractions and the mass-metallicity relation, we place stringent global constraints on the magnitude and scaling of the efficiency with which star forming galaxies expel metals. We demonstrate that under the assumptions that metal accretion is negligible and the stellar initial mass function does not vary, efficient outflows are required to reproduce the mass-metallicity relation; without winds, gas-to-stellar mass ratios >~ 0.3 dex higher than observed are needed. Moreover, z=0 gas fractions are low enough that while they have some effect on the magnitude of outflows required, the slope of the gas fraction--stellar mass relation does not strongly affect our conclusions on how the wind efficiencies must scale with galaxy mass. Despite systematic uncertainties in the normalization and slope of the mass-metallicity relation, we show that the metal expulsion efficiency zetaw=(Zw/Zg)etaw (where Zw is the wind metallicitiy and Zg is the interstellar medium metallicity) must be both high and scale steeply with mass. Specifically, we show that zetaw >> 1 and zetaw proportional to vvir^-3 or steeper. In contrast, momentum- or energy-driven outflow models suggest that etaw should scale as vvir^-1 or vvir^-2, respectively, implying that the Zw-Mstar relation should be shallower than the Zg-Mstar relation. [abridged]

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	We extend a chemical evolution model relating galaxy stellar mass and gas-phase oxygen abundance (the mass-metallicity relation) to explicitly consider the mass-dependence of galaxy gas fractions and outflows.	contribution 0.95	0.93	0.04	asserted 0.93
s1	Using empirically derived scalings of galaxy mass with halo virial velocity in conjunction with the most recent observations of z~0 total galaxy cold gas fractions and the mass-metallicity relation, we place stringent global constraints on the magnitude and scaling of the efficiency with which star forming galaxies expel metals.	method 0.85	0.92	0.17	asserted 1.00
s2	We demonstrate that under the assumptions that metal accretion is negligible and the stellar initial mass function does not vary, efficient outflows are required to reproduce the mass-metallicity relation; without winds, gas-to-stellar mass ratios >~ 0.3 dex higher than observed are needed.	result 0.98	0.89	0.19	asserted 1.00
s3	Moreover, z=0 gas fractions are low enough that while they have some effect on the magnitude of outflows required, the slope of the gas fraction--stellar mass relation does not strongly affect our conclusions on how the wind efficiencies must scale with galaxy mass.	result 0.80	0.87	0.06	asserted 0.98
s4	Despite systematic uncertainties in the normalization and slope of the mass-metallicity relation, we show that the metal expulsion efficiency zetaw=(Zw/Zg)etaw (where Zw is the wind metallicitiy and Zg is the interstellar medium metallicity) must be both high and scale steeply with mass.	result 0.99	0.94	0.60	asserted 1.00
s5	Specifically, we show that zetaw >> 1 and zetaw proportional to vvir^-3 or steeper.	result 1.00	0.93	0.72	asserted 1.00
s6	In contrast, momentum- or energy-driven outflow models suggest that etaw should scale as vvir^-1 or vvir^-2, respectively, implying that the Zw-Mstar relation should be shallower than the Zg-Mstar relation. [abridged]	interpretation 0.81	0.11	0.12	hedged possibility 0.79

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: theoretical result 1.00 · evidence from analysis of existing data 0.82.

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full text
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The paper

Original abstract

We extend a chemical evolution model relating galaxy stellar mass and gas-phase oxygen abundance (the mass-metallicity relation) to explicitly consider the mass-dependence of galaxy gas fractions and outflows. Using empirically derived scalings of galaxy mass with halo virial velocity in conjunction with the most recent observations of z~0 total galaxy cold gas fractions and the mass-metallicity relation, we place stringent global constraints on the magnitude and scaling of the efficiency with which star forming galaxies expel metals. We demonstrate that under the assumptions that metal accretion is negligible and the stellar initial mass function does not vary, efficient outflows are required to reproduce the mass-metallicity relation; without winds, gas-to-stellar mass ratios >~ 0.3 dex higher than observed are needed. Moreover, z=0 gas fractions are low enough that while they have some effect on the magnitude of outflows required, the slope of the gas fraction--stellar mass relation does not strongly affect our conclusions on how the wind efficiencies must scale with galaxy mass. Despite systematic uncertainties in the normalization and slope of the mass-metallicity relation, we show that the metal expulsion efficiency zetaw=(Zw/Zg)etaw (where Zw is the wind metallicitiy and Zg is the interstellar medium metallicity) must be both high and scale steeply with mass. Specifically, we show that zetaw >> 1 and zetaw proportional to vvir^-3 or steeper. In contrast, momentum- or energy-driven outflow models suggest that etaw should scale as vvir^-1 or vvir^-2, respectively, implying that the Zw-Mstar relation should be shallower than the Zg-Mstar relation. [abridged]

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References

Forward citations

Cited by 3 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

Untangling Similarities and Differences in Star Formation Histories Across Cosmological Simulations
astro-ph.GA 2026-10 accept novelty 7.0 of 10

A manifold learning analysis of ~63,000 simulated star formation histories reveals a 'commonality strip' set by dark matter halo assembly and simulation-unique shapes tied to subgrid physics.
CoRGI in MaNGA - II. NGC 5717: cold-gas accretion and disk growth in a BGG
astro-ph.GA 2026-10 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

A massive brightest group galaxy, NGC 5717, hosts a young counter-rotating stellar disk formed in situ from externally accreted gas, likely from a cosmic filament.
A brief overview of the baryon cycle in galaxies
astro-ph.GA 2026-11 unverdicted

A concise review of the baryon cycle in galaxies, summarizing gas accretion, star formation, stellar feedback, AGN feeding and feedback, and outstanding open questions.

How later papers used it

69 later papers cite it

Evidence: substantial. 64 of the citing papers share no author with it, and 14 of those carry a confident label from Pith's citation classifier.

Pith read 22 of the 129 citing sentences, choosing only those whose citation markers point at this paper alone, and wrote the paraphrases from them. The summary, the counts, the evidence level, the links and the quotes come from code; the summary counts the papers listed below. A later paper is listed under a label when Pith's citation classifier gives one of its sentences that label at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), Pith's reading finds that the citing paper itself did it, and a second check confirms the paraphrase against the sentence. This section lists uses only. It does not list criticism or disagreement, so their absence here says nothing about how the paper has been received. Papers that share an author with this one are listed apart, under "By the same authors". A quote is the citing authors' own sentence, shown when their paper's licence is CC BY, CC BY-SA or CC0. JSON

4 later papers by other authors are listed below: 2 used its method or tool, 1 used its data or values and 1 compared its own results with it.

Uses its method or tool 2 of 3 papers with this label

Used the star formation history of each model galaxy to derive a stellar mass, halo mass and virial velocity as a function of time following this paper's formalism.

From 'bathtub' galaxy evolution models to metallicity gradients (2019) · 1.00 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
Derived the evolving virial velocity of each galaxy from the halo mass as a function of redshift and stellar mass using Equation 19 in this paper.

Empirical Constraints for the Magnitude and Composition of Galactic Winds (2013) · 0.91 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

Uses its data or values 1 paper

Took the z=0 gas fraction data from a compilation by this paper.

Galaxy Evolution in Cosmological Simulations with Outflows II: Metallicities and Gas Fractions (2011) · 0.90 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

Compares with it 1 of 7 papers with this label

Reported that its own constraint is slightly higher than the empirical constraints from this paper using the MZR derived in other works.

Constraints on galactic outflows from the metallicity-stellar mass-SFR relation of EAGLE simulation and SDSS galaxies (2022) · 0.99 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

How the literature uses it

6 arXiv papers cite this in 12 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 10 sentences without a confident label

Uses its data or values 1 paper

The $z=0$ metallicity observations are taken from [ref] , and the gas fraction data from a compilation by [ref] .

Galaxy Evolution in Cosmological Simulations with Outflows II: Metallicities and Gas Fractions · Comparisons to Data · 0.90

Cites it as background 1 paper

They are important for determining the chemical evolution of galaxies and the mass-metallicity relation ( [ref] ; [ref] ; [ref] ; [ref] ; [ref] ), and as a primary source of metals in the intergalactic medium (IGM; e.g., [ref] ).

Radiation Pressure Driven Galactic Winds from Self-Gravitating Discs · Introduction · 0.80

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