Young, star-forming galaxies and their local counterparts: The evolving relationship of mass–SFR–metallicity since z ∼ 2.1

Journal Article · Wed Jan 20 04:00:00 EST 2016 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/817/1/10· OSTI ID:22887128

Gebhardt, Henry S. Grasshorn; Zeimann, Gregory R.; Ciardullo, Robin; Gronwall, Caryl; Hagen, Alex; Bridge, Joanna S.; Schneider, Donald P.

We explore the evolution of the Stellar Mass–Star Formation Rate (SFR)–Metallicity relation using a set of 256 COSMOS and GOODS galaxies in the redshift range 1.90 < z < 2.35. We present the galaxies’ rest-frame optical emission-line fluxes derived from IR-grism spectroscopy with the Hubble Space Telescope and combine these data with SFRs and stellar masses obtained from deep, multi-wavelength (rest-frame UV to IR) photometry. We then compare these measurements to those for a local sample of galaxies carefully matched in stellar mass (7.5≲log(M{sub ∗}/M{sub ⊙})≲10.5) and SFR (−0.5≲log(SFR)≲2.5 in M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}). We find that the distribution of z ∼ 2.1 galaxies in stellar mass–SFR–metallicity space is clearly different from that derived for our sample of similarly bright (L{sub Hβ}>3×10{sup 40} erg s{sup −1}) local galaxies, and this offset cannot be explained by simple systematic offsets in the derived quantities. At stellar masses above ∼10{sup 9} M{sub ⊙} and SFRs above ∼10 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}, the z ∼ 2.1 galaxies have higher oxygen abundances than their local counterparts, while the opposite is true for lower-mass, lower-SFR systems.

• OSTI ID: 22887128
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 817; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COSMOLOGY
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
EMISSION
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
MASS
METALLICITY
MILKY WAY
OXYGEN
PHOTOMETRY
RED SHIFT
SPACE
SPECTROSCOPY
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
TELESCOPES
UNIVERSE