The Origin of the Mass--Metallicity Relation: Insights from 53,000 Star-Forming Galaxies in the SDSS
read the original abstract
We utilize Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging and spectroscopy of ~53,000 star-forming galaxies at z~0.1 to study the relation between stellar mass and gas-phase metallicity. We derive gas-phase oxygen abundances and stellar masses using new techniques which make use of the latest stellar evolutionary synthesis and photoionization models. We find a tight (+/-0.1 dex) correlation between stellar mass and metallicity spanning over 3 orders of magnitude in stellar mass and a factor of 10 in metallicity. The relation is relatively steep from 10^{8.5} - 10^{10.5} M_sun, in good accord with known trends between luminosity and metallicity, but flattens above 10^{10.5} M_sun. We use indirect estimates of the gas mass based on the H-alpha luminosity to compare our data to predictions from simple closed box chemical evolution models. We show that metal loss is strongly anti-correlated with baryonic mass, with low mass dwarf galaxies being 5 times more metal-depleted than L* galaxies at z~0.1. Evidence for metal depletion is not confined to dwarf galaxies, but is found in galaxies with masses as high as 10^{10} M_sun. We interpret this as strong evidence both of the ubiquity of galactic winds and of their effectiveness in removing metals from galaxy potential wells.
This paper has not been read by Pith yet.
Forward citations
Cited by 22 Pith papers
-
Satellite Metallicity Enhancement I: Suppressed Star Formation, Stellar Mass Loss, and Enriched Inflow of DESI and EAGLE Galaxies around Massive Clusters
The satellite metallicity enhancement profile around clusters declines steeply in the core, plateaus near the virial radius due to enriched inflow, and declines further out, with mass loss and quenching dominating the core.
-
Satellite Metallicity Enhancement I: Suppressed Star Formation, Stellar Mass Loss, and Enriched Inflow of DESI and EAGLE Galaxies around Massive Clusters
The observed satellite metallicity enhancement profile around clusters is decomposed into dominant contributions from enriched intracluster medium accretion in the plateau region and from stellar mass loss plus quench...
-
A Glimpse of the Low-Mass End of the Direct Mass-Metallicity Relation at $z\sim6-8$
Direct [OIII]4364-based metallicities show that galaxies with stellar masses 10^6.7-9 solar masses at z~6-8 are 0.3-0.5 dex more metal-poor than local galaxies of the same mass, with slope 0.25 and 0.2 dex scatter.
-
Active Galactic Nuclei-driven Metallicity Enrichment in the Interstellar Medium of Mrk 573
AGN activity in Mrk 573 enriches the surrounding gas with metals up to several times solar abundance on 100-parsec scales via outflows and jets.
-
pop-cosmos: Star formation over 12 Gyr from generative modelling of a deep infrared-selected galaxy catalogue
A score-based diffusion generative model on deep infrared galaxy photometry yields a star formation rate density peaking at z=1.3 and shows distinct non-parametric star formation histories plus AGN activity peaking du...
-
On the origin of the environmental step: A BayeSN view of the ZTF SN Ia DR2
BayeSN analysis of ZTF SN Ia DR2 data shows a persistent ~0.1 mag environmental step that is intrinsic to the supernovae, not explained by differing dust properties.
-
Differences between emission and absorption tracers of spatially resolved outflows in clumpy z ~ 0.1 star-forming galaxies
Spatially resolved observations of z~0.1 galaxies show Mg II absorption outflow velocities are systematically higher than Hα emission velocities by ~0.4 dex while maintaining similar correlations with star formation r...
-
Are Nucleosynthetic Yields Universal? Interpreting the Multi-Elemental Abundances of Quiescent Galaxies over Cosmic Time Using Milky Way Stars
Milky Way abundance trends act as effective empirical proxies for nucleosynthetic yields, recovering alpha and Fe-peak abundances in quiescent galaxies with 0.05 dex median offset versus 0.23 dex for theory, indicatin...
-
NEFERTITI: Linking early galaxy formation to the assembly of the Milky Way
NEFERTITI simulations show that the Milky Way's most metal-poor stars largely come from a handful of accreted massive dwarf galaxies, while reproducing the JWST Hebe galaxy at z~11 as a pure Population III system.
-
The Critical Mass in Galaxy Evolution
A simulation study finds that a hot gas halo at galaxy total mass ~10^12.5 solar masses suppresses cool gas accretion, driving a redshift-independent turnover in the stellar-to-total mass ratio via reduced in-situ sta...
-
DeepDive: Simultaneous Formation of Massive Quiescent Galaxies in High-Redshift Galaxy Proto-clusters
JWST data show massive quiescent galaxies in high-redshift proto-clusters formed and quenched simultaneously, with AGN signatures, indicating environmental triggering of quenching.
-
Sparks: The Magellan/FIRE survey from starburst to post-starburst
The Sparks survey divides local galaxies into first-burst, second-burst, and post-burst groups, finding AGN predominantly in second-burst systems and implying a short delay before black hole accretion.
-
Tracing Star Formation in Quasar Hosts via [O II] $\lambda$3727: A Kinematically Consistent Approach
Kinematically consistent decomposition shows [O II] in quasars is dominated by star formation rather than AGN, allowing its use as a reliable SFR tracer that correlates tightly with bolometric luminosity over black ho...
-
Galaxy Metallicity Gradients in the Reionization Epoch from the FIRE-2 Simulations
FIRE-2 simulations find metallicity gradients in EoR galaxies flatten from median -0.15 dex/kpc at z~10 to -0.1 at z~6, with positive correlations to stellar mass and gas flow proxy Δv/2σ and links to central SFR density.
-
Connecting CGM enrichment with Lyman alpha emitters at 2.9 < z < 6.7
Blind MUSE search detects 156 LAEs at 2.9<z<6.7 with 34 C IV and 14 Mg II absorber associations, indicating low-mass galaxies enrich the CGM.
-
The Simulated Oxygen Shortage (SOS): Mapping the Missing OVI in Simulated Dwarf Galaxies to Subgrid Physics
The paper identifies underproduction of oxygen in low-mass simulated dwarf galaxies as the likely cause of missing OVI in the CGM, based on comparisons across two simulation suites.
-
On the origin of the environmental step: A BayeSN view of the ZTF SN Ia DR2
BayeSN analysis of ZTF Type Ia supernovae confirms a ~0.1 mag intrinsic environmental step in standardized brightness that is not explained by differences in dust extinction properties.
-
MSA-3D: Connecting the Chemical and Kinematic Structures of Galaxies at $z \sim 1$
Dynamically hotter galaxies at z~1 exhibit flatter metallicity gradients, suggesting turbulent mixing regulates chemical stratification in typical star-forming disks.
-
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: stellar mass growth in massive galaxy clusters from DR5 over the past 7 billion years
Composite cluster stellar mass functions show marginal M* evolution at high z and a factor of 2.5 growth in stellar mass fraction from z=0.8 to 0.2 after accounting for halo mass growth.
-
COLIBRE: calibrating subgrid feedback in cosmological simulations that include a cold gas phase
COLIBRE calibrates supernova and AGN feedback parameters in multi-phase ISM cosmological simulations using emulator-based fitting to reproduce the z=0 galaxy stellar mass function and size-stellar mass relation at thr...
-
Self-regulated galaxy evolution within a self-consistently varying galaxy-wide IMF
A metallicity- and SFR-dependent galaxy-wide IMF in semi-analytical models reproduces the mass-metallicity relation and quenched ellipticals more accurately than constant-IMF models, with self-regulation set by gas ac...
-
Sparks II: Panchromatic SED modeling and galaxy physical properties across the starburst to post-starburst sequence
Panchromatic SED modeling yields SFRs with smaller offset and scatter than optical-only fits for starburst to post-starburst galaxies, while Prospector AGN torus models distinguish AGN but underpredict luminosities by...
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.