A Characteristic Mass Scale in the Mass–Metallicity Relation of Galaxies

Blanc, Guillermo A.; Lu, Yu; Benson, Andrew; Katsianis, Antonios; Barraza, Marcelo

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab16ec

Cited by 52 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 147 publications

(292 reference statements)

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“…Instead, our results support a real break related to physical processes governing the metal content. If the systematic offsets of the resolved and integrated-light methods are indeed as low as what we obtained for NGC 147, it is possible that the stellar MZR may also have a sharp transition, like the gas-phase MZR derived by Blanc et al (2019). This break in the stellar MZR was also observed by Gallazzi et al (2005), who measured the stellar MZR from a single method (spectrophotometric indices) rather than comparing MZRs measured from different methods in different mass ranges.…”

Section: Implications For the Mzrsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…One possible explanation for the discrepancy is that there is a physical break in the MZR around 10 8 −10 10 M e . This behavior would mimic the gas-phase MZR, which follows a single power law at low to intermediate masses (10 6 M e  M *  10 9.5 M e ), and flattens at the high-mass end (e.g., Blanc et al 2019). The possible transition may result from different feedback mechanisms of the two mass ranges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…These systematic effects can lead to quantitatively and qualitatively different shapes for the gas-phase MZR. For instance, most studies favor a continuous gas-phase MZR that exhibits a single power law at low and intermediate mass, and gradually flattens at the high-mass end (e.g., Tremonti et al 2004;Kewley & Ellison 2008;Zahid et al 2013), while Blanc et al (2019) discovered a sharp transition in the gas-phase MZR, which has a much steeper slope at 10 9.5 −10 10.5 M e . Therefore, it is extremely important to understand the systematic offsets between different methods before placing the MZRs on the same absolute scale.…”

Section: Implications For the Mzrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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NGC 147 Corroborates the Break in the Stellar Mass–Stellar Metallicity Relation for Galaxies

Zhuang

Kirby

Leethochawalit

et al. 2021

ApJ

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The stellar mass-stellar metallicity relation (MZR) is an essential approach to probing the chemical evolution of galaxies. It reflects the balance between galactic feedback and gravitational potential as a function of stellar mass. However, the current MZR of local dwarf satellite galaxies (M *  10 8 M e ; measured from resolved stellar spectroscopy) may not be reconcilable with that of more massive galaxies (M *  10 9.5 M e ; measured from integrated-light spectroscopy). Such a discrepancy may result from a systematic difference between the two methods, or it may indicate a break in the MZR around 10 9 M e . To address this question, we measured the stellar metallicity of NGC 147 from integrated light using the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager. We compared the stellar metallicity estimates from integrated light with measurements from resolved stellar spectroscopy and found them to be consistent within 0.1 dex. On the other hand, the high-mass MZR overpredicts the metallicity by 0.6 dex at the mass of NGC 147. Therefore, our results tentatively suggest that the discrepancy between the low-mass MZR and high-mass MZR should not be attributed to a systematic difference in techniques. Instead, real physical processes cause the transition in the MZR. In addition, we discovered a positive age gradient in the innermost region and a negative metallicity gradient from the resolved stars at larger radii, suggesting a possible outside-in formation of NGC 147.Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Local Group (929); Galaxy abundances (574); Metallicity (1031); Chemical abundances (224); Stellar abundances (1577); Dwarf elliptical galaxies (415)

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Section: Implications For the Mzrsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Implications For the Mzrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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NGC 147 Corroborates the Break in the Stellar Mass–Stellar Metallicity Relation for Galaxies

Zhuang

Kirby

Leethochawalit

et al. 2021

ApJ

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“…Besides outflows, the galactic inflow/accretion of CGMs deposit fresh gas fuel for star formation in disks. This recycling of the material between CGM and disks through outflows and inflows/accretion is one of the key physical processes that shape galaxy formation and evolution (Tumlinson et al 2014;Troncoso et al 2014;Ly et al 2016;Onodera et al 2016;Sanders et al 2018), dwarf galaxies (Lee et al 2006;Blanc et al 2019) and simulation (Brooks et al 2007;Ma et al 2016). Chisholm et al (2018) presents that in the local universe, outflow causes the loss of 78% metal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing possible effects of circumgalactic media on the metal content of galaxies through the mass-metallicity relationship

Zhai,

Shi,

Chen

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The circumgalactic medium (CGM) connects the gas between the interstellar medium (ISM) and the intergalactic medium, which plays an important role in galaxy evolution. We use the stellar mass-metallicity relationship to investigate whether sharing the CGM will affect the distribution of metals in galaxy pairs. The optical emission lines from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release (SDSS DR7) are used to measure the gas-phase metallicity. We find that there is no significant difference in the distribution of the metallicity difference between two members in star forming-star forming pairs (∆log(O/H) diff ), metallicity offset from the best-fitted stellar mass-metallicity relationship of galaxies in pairs (∆log(O/H) MS ), as compared to "fake" pairs. By looking at ∆log(O/H) diff and ∆log(O/H) MS as a function of the star formation rate (SFR), specific star formation rate (sSFR), and stellar mass ratio, no difference is seen between galaxies in pairs and control galaxies. From our results, the share of the CGM may not play an important role in shaping the evolution of metal contents of galaxies.

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“…At lower stellar masses, feedback becomes effective at ejecting metals from the ISM via outflows (e.g. Blanc et al 2019). The source of these outflows is thought to be supernova explosions (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the drivers of gas and stellar metallicity differences in galaxies

Fraser-McKelvie,

Cortese,

Groves

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The combination of gas-phase oxygen abundances and stellar metallicities can provide us with unique insights into the metal enrichment histories of galaxies. In this work, we compare the stellar and gas-phase metallicities measured within a 1R e aperture for a representative sample of 472 star-forming galaxies extracted from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. We confirm that the stellar and interstellar medium (ISM) metallicities are strongly correlated, with scatter ∼3 times smaller than that found in previous works, and that integrated stellar populations are generally more metalpoor than the ISM, especially in low-mass galaxies. The ratio between the two metallicities strongly correlates with several integrated galaxy properties including stellar mass, specific star formation rate, and a gravitational potential proxy. However, we show that these trends are primarily a consequence of: (a) the different star formation and metal enrichment histories of the galaxies, and (b) the fact that while stellar metallicities trace primarily iron enrichment, gas-phase metallicity indicators are calibrated to the enrichment of oxygen in the ISM. Indeed, once both metallicities are converted to the same 'element base' all of our trends become significantly weaker. Interestingly, the ratio of gas to stellar metallicity is always below the value expected for a simple closed-box model, which requires that outflows and inflows play an important role in the enrichment history across our entire stellar mass range. This work highlights the complex interplay between stellar and gas-phase metallicities and shows how care must be taken in comparing them to constrain models of galaxy formation and evolution.

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A Characteristic Mass Scale in the Mass–Metallicity Relation of Galaxies

Cited by 52 publications

References 147 publications

NGC 147 Corroborates the Break in the Stellar Mass–Stellar Metallicity Relation for Galaxies

NGC 147 Corroborates the Break in the Stellar Mass–Stellar Metallicity Relation for Galaxies

Probing possible effects of circumgalactic media on the metal content of galaxies through the mass-metallicity relationship

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: the drivers of gas and stellar metallicity differences in galaxies

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