A CONSISTENT STUDY OF METALLICITY EVOLUTION AT 0.8 < z < 2.6

Journal Article · Thu Jul 10 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/789/2/L40· OSTI ID:22365642

Wuyts, Eva; Kurk, Jaron; Förster Schreiber, Natascha M.; Genzel, Reinhard; Wisnioski, Emily; Bandara, Kaushala; Wuyts, Stijn; Beifiori, Alessandra; Bender, Ralf; Buschkamp, Peter; Chan, Jeffrey; Davies, Ric; Eisenhauer, Frank; Fossati, Matteo; Kulkarni, Sandesh K.; Lang, Philipp ^[1]; Brammer, Gabriel B. ^[2]; Burkert, Andreas ^[3]; Carollo, C. Marcella; others, and

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1. Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstr. 1, D-85741 Garching (Germany)
2. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
3. Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 München (Germany)

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 {sub *}/M {sub ☉}) = 9.0-11.5 from the LUCI, SINS/zC-SINF, and KMOS{sup 3D} 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.

• OSTI ID: 22365642
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 789; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASYMPTOTIC SOLUTIONS
CORRELATIONS
DATA ANALYSIS
GALAXIES
INDICATORS
MASS
METALLICITY
RED SHIFT
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS