Wuyts, E. and Kurk, J. and Förster Schreiber, N.M. and Genzel, R. and Wisnioski, E. and Bandara, K. and Wuyts, S. and Beifiori, A. and Bender, R. and Brammer, G.B. and Burkert, A. and Buschkamp, P. and Carollo, C.M. and Chan, J. and Davies, R. and Eisenhauer, F. and Fossati, M. and Kulkarni, S.K. and Lang, P. and Lilly, S.J. and Lutz, D. and Mancini, C. and Mendel, J.T. and Momcheva, I.G. and Naab, T. and Nelson, E.J. and Renzini, A. and Rosario, D. and Saglia, R.P. and Seitz, S. and Sharples, R.M. and Sternberg, A. and Tacchella, S. and Tacconi, L.J. and van Dokkum, P. and Wilman, D.J. (2014) 'A consistent study of metallicity evolution at 0.8 < z < 2.6.', Astrophysical journal letters., 789 (2). L40.
Abstract
We present the correlations between stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and the [N II]/Hα flux ratio as an indicator of gas-phase metallicity for a sample of 222 galaxies at 0.8 < z < 2.6 and log (M */M ☉) = 9.0-11.5 from the LUCI, SINS/zC-SINF, and KMOS3D surveys. This sample provides a unique analysis of the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) over an extended redshift range using consistent data analysis techniques and a uniform strong-line metallicity indicator. We find a constant slope at the low-mass end of the relation and can fully describe its redshift evolution through the evolution of the characteristic turnover mass where the relation begins to flatten at the asymptotic metallicity. At a fixed mass and redshift, our data do not show a correlation between the [N II]/Hα ratio and SFR, which disagrees with the 0.2-0.3 dex offset in [N II]/Hα predicted by the "fundamental relation" between stellar mass, SFR, and metallicity discussed in recent literature. However, the overall evolution toward lower [N II]/Hα at earlier times does broadly agree with these predictions.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: high-redshift, Infrared: galaxies. |
| Full text: | (VoR) Version of Record Download PDF (546Kb) |
| Status: | Peer-reviewed |
| Publisher Web site: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/789/2/L40 |
| Publisher statement: | © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. |
| Date accepted: | 17 June 2014 |
| Date deposited: | 21 May 2015 |
| Date of first online publication: | 26 June 2014 |
| Date first made open access: | No date available |
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