The origin of correlations between mass, metallicity, and morphology in galaxies from the eagle simulation

Zenocratti, LJ; De Rossi, ME; Theuns, T; Lara-López, MA

doi:10.1093/mnras/stac906

The origin of correlations between mass, metallicity, and morphology in galaxies from the eagle simulation

Zenocratti, LJ; De Rossi, ME; Theuns, T; Lara-López, MA

Authors

LJ Zenocratti

ME De Rossi

Professor Tom Theuns tom.theuns@durham.ac.uk
Professor

MA Lara-López

Abstract

Observed and simulated galaxies exhibit correlations between stellar mass, metallicity, and morphology. We use the EAGLE cosmological simulation to examine the origin of these correlations for galaxies in the stellar mass range 109 M M 1010 M, and the extent to which they contribute to the scatter in the mass–metallicity relation. We find that rotationally supported disc galaxies have lower metallicity than dispersion supported spheroidal galaxies at a given mass, in agreement with previous findings. In EAGLE, this correlation arises because discs form stars at later times, redshift z 1, from the accretion of low-metallicity gas, whereas spheroidal galaxies galaxies typically form stars earlier, mainly by consumption of their gas reservoir. The different behaviour reflects the growth of their host dark matter halo: at a given stellar mass, disc galaxies inhabit dark matter haloes with lower mass that formed later compared to the haloes of spheroidal galaxies. Halo concentration plays a secondary role.

Citation

Zenocratti, L., De Rossi, M., Theuns, T., & Lara-López, M. (2022). The origin of correlations between mass, metallicity, and morphology in galaxies from the eagle simulation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 512(4), 6164-6179. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac906

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 29, 2022
Online Publication Date	Apr 5, 2022
Publication Date	2022-06
Deposit Date	Jun 16, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Jun 20, 2022
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	512
Issue	4
Pages	6164-6179
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac906

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ©: 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.