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The oxygen abundance gradients in the gas discs of galaxies in the EAGLE simulation

Tissera, P.B.; Rosas-Guevara, Y.; Bower, R.G.; Crain, R.A.; del P Lagos, C.; Schaller, M.; Schaye, J.; Theuns, T.

The oxygen abundance gradients in the gas discs of galaxies in the EAGLE simulation Thumbnail


Authors

P.B. Tissera

Y. Rosas-Guevara

R.G. Bower

R.A. Crain

C. del P Lagos

J. Schaye



Abstract

We use the EAGLE simulations to study the oxygen abundance gradients of gas discs in galaxies within the stellar mass range [109.5, 1010.8] ∼ M⊙ at z = 0. The estimated median oxygen gradient is −0.011 ± 0.002 dex kpc−1, which is shallower than observed. No clear trend between simulated disc oxygen gradient and galaxy stellar mass is found when all galaxies are considered. However, the oxygen gradient shows a clear correlation with gas disc size so that shallower abundance slopes are found for increasing gas disc sizes. Positive oxygen gradients are detected for ≈40 per cent of the analysed gas discs, with a slight higher frequency in low-mass galaxies. Galaxies that have quiet merger histories show a positive correlation between oxygen gradient and stellar mass, so that more massive galaxies tend to have shallower metallicity gradients. At high stellar mass, there is a larger fraction of rotational-dominated galaxies in low-density regions. At low stellar mass, non-merger galaxies show a large variety of oxygen gradients and morphologies. The normalization of the disc oxygen gradients in non-merger galaxies by the effective radius removes the trend with stellar mass. Conversely, galaxies that experienced mergers show a weak relation between oxygen gradient and stellar mass. Additionally, the analysed EAGLE discs show no clear dependence of the oxygen gradients on local environment, in agreement with current observational findings.

Citation

Tissera, P., Rosas-Guevara, Y., Bower, R., Crain, R., del P Lagos, C., Schaller, M., …Theuns, T. (2019). The oxygen abundance gradients in the gas discs of galaxies in the EAGLE simulation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 482(2), 2208-2221. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2817

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 15, 2018
Online Publication Date Oct 24, 2018
Publication Date Jan 11, 2019
Deposit Date Nov 21, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 482
Issue 2
Pages 2208-2221
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2817

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2018 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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