J/A+A/690/A150ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/690/A150doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.36900150CDSBevacqua D.Saracco P.Boecker A.D'Ago G.De Lucia G.De Propris R.,La Barbera F.Pasquali A.Spiniello C.Tortora C.2025-02-24T20:01:27Z2024-10-08T12:05:28ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frgalaxiesinterstellar-masersstellar-agesWe investigate the stellar Mass-Metallicity Relation (MZR) using a sample of 637 quiescent galaxies with 10.4<=log(M*/M_{sun}_)<11.7 selected from the LEGA-C survey at 0.6<=z<=1. We derive mass-weighted stellar metallicities using full-spectral fitting. We find that while lower-mass galaxies are both metal-rich and -poor, there are no metal-poor galaxies at high masses, and that metallicity is bounded at low values by a mass-dependent lower limit. This lower limit increases with mass, empirically defining a MEtallicity-Mass Exclusion (MEME) zone. We find that the spectral index MgFe=SQRT(Mgb*Fe4383), a proxy for the stellar metallicity, also shows a mass-dependent lower limit resembling the MEME relation. Crucially MgFe is independent of stellar population models and fitting methods. By constructing the Metallicity Enrichment Histories, we find that, after the first Gyr, the Star Formation History of galaxies has a mild impact on the observed metallicity distribution. Finally, from the average formation times, we find that galaxies populate differently the metallicity-mass plane at different cosmic times, and that the MEME limit is recovered by galaxies that formed at z>=3. Our work suggests that the stellar metallicity of quiescent galaxies is bounded by a lower limit which increases with the stellar mass. On the other hand, low-mass galaxies can have metallicities as high as galaxies ~1dex more massive. This suggests that, at log(M*/M_{sun}_)>=10.4, rather than lower-mass galaxies being systematically less metallic, the observed MZR might be a consequence of the lack of massive, metal-poor galaxies.2024A&A...690A.150Bhttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/690/A150CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toJ/ApJS/206/8 : COSMOS/UltraVISTA Ks-selected catalogs v4.1 (Muzzin+, 2013)J/ApJS/256/44 : LEGA-C DR3: high-quality galaxies spectra (van der Wel+, 2021)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/690/A150https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/690/A150http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/690/A150https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/690/A150https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/690/A150http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/690/A150GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/A+A/690/A150/table1 (Estimated stellar population parameters)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/690/A150/table1?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/690/A150/table1?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/690/A150/table1?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true150.08531251.95740.0055555555555555565/6814 6/27245 27247 27344https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/A+A/690/A150?format=asciidefaultJ/A+A/690/A150/table1Estimated stellar population parametersAgeMass-weighted age estimated from fits using equation 1Gyrtime.agefloat[M/H]Mass-weighted metallicity estimated from fits using equation 2phys.abund.ZfloattformAverage formation time estimated using equation 3Gyrphys.SFR;stat.meanfloatDtauDtau = tau_95 - tau_5 (1)Gyrtime.scalefloat_RARight Ascension (J2000) from SIMBAD (not part of the original data)degpos.eq.ra;meta.main_DEDeclination (J2000) from SIMBAD (not part of the original data)degpos.eq.dec;meta.mainSimbadNameSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.idcharnullablerecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintLEGA-CMask number and LEGA-C ID of the file associated with the spectrummeta.id;meta.mainchar