THE MASS-METALLICITY AND LUMINOSITY-METALLICITY RELATIONS FROM DEEP2 AT z {approx} 0.8

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/730/2/137· OSTI ID:21574806

Zahid, H J; Kewley, L J; Bresolin, F ^[1]

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1. Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)

We present the mass-metallicity (MZ) and luminosity-metallicity (LZ) relations at z {approx} 0.8 from {approx}1350 galaxies in the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe 2 survey. We determine stellar masses by fitting the spectral energy distribution inferred from photometry with current stellar population synthesis models. This work raises the number of galaxies with metallicities at z {approx}0.8 by more than an order of magnitude. We investigate the evolution in the MZ and LZ relations in comparison with local MZ and LZ relations determined in a consistent manner using {approx}21, 000 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We show that high stellar mass galaxies (M {approx} 10{sup 10.6} M{sub sun}) at z {approx}0.8 have attained the chemical enrichment seen in the local universe, while lower stellar mass galaxies (M {approx} 10{sup 9.2} M{sub sun}) at z {approx}0.8 have lower metallicities ({Delta}log(O/H) {approx} 0.15 dex) than galaxies at the same stellar mass in the local universe. We find that the LZ relation evolves in both metallicity and B-band luminosity between z {approx}0.8 and z {approx} 0, with the B-band luminosity evolving as a function of stellar mass. We emphasize that the B-band luminosity should not be used as a proxy for stellar mass in chemical evolution studies of star-forming galaxies. Our study shows that both the metallicity evolution and the B-band luminosity evolution for emission-line galaxies between the epochs are a function of stellar mass, consistent with the cosmic downsizing scenario of galaxy evolution.

• OSTI ID: 21574806
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 730; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ENERGY SPECTRA
EVOLUTION
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
LUMINOSITY
MASS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOTOMETRY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SPECTRA
STARS