Metallicity gradients in local field star-forming galaxies: insights on inflows, outflows, and the coevolution of gas, stars and metals

Ho, I-Ting; Kudritzki, Rolf‐Peter; Kewley, Lisa J.; Zahid, H. Jabran; Dopita, Michael A.; Bresolin, Fabio; Rupke, David S. N.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stv067

Cited by 207 publications

(311 citation statements)

References 160 publications

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“…In this figure, we represent the difference, Δα (O/H) , of oxygen abundance slopes (outer−inner) versus the color slope difference, Δα (g −r ) , along with their errors obtained through the propagation of the fitting uncertainties. In general, our best-fitting results are in agreement with the oxygen abundance slope distributions obtained by and Ho et al (2015). Walcher et al (2014), along with the linear fits to the values derived for the Tii (cyan solid line) and Tiii-type (green solid line) galaxies.…”

Section: The Interplay Between Stellar Light and Abundance Profilessupporting

confidence: 91%

“…This is indeed observed in most late-type galaxies for both the gas and stellar populations (e.g., González Delgado et al 2015) but is still 1 Breaks and truncations are sometimes referred to as different phenomena as explained in Martín-Navarro et al (2012). We focus our attention on the innermost change in the SB profiles happening at μ r = 22.5 mag/ 2 under debate whether this abundance gradient is valid for all disk galaxies and at all radii (Sánchez-Blázquez et al 2014;Ho et al 2015). On the other hand, not all theoretical models produce elemental abundance radial distributions as perfect exponential functions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

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Outer-disk reddening and gas-phase metallicities: The CALIFA connection

Marino

Paz

Sanchez

et al. 2015

A&A

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We study, for the first time in a statistically significant and well-defined sample, the relation between the outer-disk ionized-gas metallicity gradients and the presence of breaks in the surface brightness profiles of disk galaxies. Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) g -and r -band surface brightness, (g -r ) color, and ionized-gas oxygen abundance profiles for 324 galaxies within the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey are used for this purpose. We perform a detailed light-profile classification, finding that 84% of our disks show down-or up-bending profiles (Type II and Type III, respectively), while the remaining 16% are well fitted by one single exponential (Type I). The analysis of the color gradients at both sides of this break shows a U-shaped profile for most Type II galaxies with an average minimum (g − r ) color of ∼0.5 mag and an ionized-gas metallicity flattening associated with it only in the case of low-mass galaxies. Comparatively, more massive systems show a rather uniform negative metallicity gradient. The correlation between metallicity flattening and stellar mass for these systems results in p-values as low as 0.01. Independent of the mechanism having shaped the outer light profiles of these galaxies, stellar migration or a previous episode of star formation in a shrinking star-forming disk, it is clear that the imprint in their ionized-gas metallicity was different for low-and high-mass Type II galaxies. In the case of Type III disks, a positive correlation between the change in color and abundance gradient is found (the null hypothesis is ruled out with a p-value of 0.02), with the outer disks of Type III galaxies with masses ≤10 10 M showing a weak color reddening or even a bluing. This is interpreted as primarily due to a mass downsizing effect on the population of Type III galaxies that recently experienced an enhanced inside-out growth.

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Section: The Interplay Between Stellar Light and Abundance Profilessupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Outer-disk reddening and gas-phase metallicities: The CALIFA connection

Marino

Paz

Sanchez

et al. 2015

A&A

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“…The correlation disappears when the gas-phase metallicity gradients are normalised by r eff for both observed and simulated discs (e.g. Sánchez et al 2012;Ho et al 2015;Tissera et al 2016b). Within the standard model for disc formation (Fall & Efstathiou 1980), the sizes of the discs are the result of angular momentum conservation.…”

Section: Metallicity Profiles Of the Stellar Populationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mild evolution of the stellar metallicity gradients of disc galaxies

Tissera

Machado

Vı́lchez

et al. 2017

A&A

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Context. The metallicity gradients of the stellar populations in disc galaxies and their evolution store relevant information on the disc formation history and on those processes which could mix stars a posteriori, such as migration, bars and/or galaxy-galaxy interactions. Aims. We aim to investigate the evolution of the metallicity gradients of the whole stellar populations in disc components of simulated galaxies in a cosmological context. Methods. We analyse simulated disc galaxies selected from a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation that includes chemical evolution and a physically motivated Supernova feedback capable of driving mass-loaded galactic winds. Results. We detect a mild evolution with redshift in the metallicity slopes of −0.02 ± 0.01 dex kpc −1 from z ∼ 1. If the metallicity profiles are normalised by the effective radius of the stellar disc, the slopes show no clear evolution for z < 1, with a median value of approximately −0.23 dex r −1 reff . As a function of stellar mass, we find that metallicity gradients steepen for stellar masses smaller than ∼ 10 10.3 M ⊙ while the trend reverses for higher stellar masses, in the redshift range z = [0, 1]. Galaxies with small stellar masses have discs with larger r reff and flatter metallicity gradients than expected. We detect migration albeit weaker than in previous works. Conclusions. Our stellar discs show a mild evolution of the stellar metallicity slopes up to z ∼ 1, which is well-matched by the evolution calculated archeologically from the abundance distributions of mono-age stellar populations at z ∼ 0. The dispersion in the relations allows for stronger individual evolutions. Overall, Supernova feedback could explain the trends but an impact of migration can not be totally discarded. Galaxy-galaxy interactions or small satellite accretions can also contribute to modify the metallicity profiles in the outer parts. Disentangling the effects of these processes for individual galaxies is still a challenge in a cosmological context.

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“…Ho et al (2015), based on the use of simple chemical evolution models, proposed that this common gradient was the result of common gas and stellar surface density profiles under the co-evolution of gas, stars, and metals during the mass growth of disc galaxies. IFS surveys have also allowed us to find a relation between the inner abundance drop presented in spiral galaxies and the galaxy mass, being this feature more common in more massive galaxies (Sánchez-Menguiano et al 2016b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The shape of oxygen abundance profiles explored with MUSE: evidence for widespread deviations from single gradients

Sánchez-Menguiano

Sanchez

Pérez

et al. 2018

A&A

150

146

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We characterised the oxygen abundance radial distribution of a sample of 102 spiral galaxies observed with VLT/MUSE using the O3N2 calibrator. The high spatial resolution of the data allowed us to detect 14345 H ii regions with the same image quality as with photometric data, avoiding any dilution effect. We developed a new methodology to automatically fit the abundance radial profiles, finding that 55 galaxies of the sample exhibit a single negative gradient. The remaining 47 galaxies also display, as well as this negative trend, either an inner drop in the abundances (21), an outer flattening (10), or both (16), which suggests that these features are a common property of disc galaxies. The presence and depth of the inner drop depends on the stellar mass of the galaxies with the most massive systems presenting the deepest abundance drops, while there is no such dependence in the case of the outer flattening. We find that the inner drop appears always around 0.5 r e , while the position of the outer flattening varies over a wide range of galactocentric distances. Regarding the main negative gradient, we find a characteristic slope in the sample of α O/H = − 0.10 ± 0.03 dex/r e . This slope is independent of the presence of bars and the density of the environment. However, when inner drops or outer flattenings are detected, slightly steeper gradients are observed. This suggests that radial motions might play an important role in shaping the abundance profiles. We define a new normalisation scale ('the abundance scale length', r O/H ) for the radial profiles based on the characteristic abundance gradient, with which all the galaxies show a similar position for the inner drop (∼ 0.5 r O/H ) and the outer flattening (∼ 1.5 r O/H ). Finally, we find no significant dependence of the dispersion around the negative gradient with any property of the galaxies, with values compatible with the uncertainties associated with the derivation of the abundances.

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Metallicity gradients in local field star-forming galaxies: insights on inflows, outflows, and the coevolution of gas, stars and metals

Cited by 207 publications

References 160 publications

Outer-disk reddening and gas-phase metallicities: The CALIFA connection

Outer-disk reddening and gas-phase metallicities: The CALIFA connection

Mild evolution of the stellar metallicity gradients of disc galaxies

The shape of oxygen abundance profiles explored with MUSE: evidence for widespread deviations from single gradients

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