Mass-Metallicity Relation of quiescent galaxies Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Bevacqua D.
  2. Saracco P.
  3. Boecker A.
  4. D'Ago G.
  5. De Lucia G.
  6. De Propris R.,La Barbera F.
  7. Pasquali A.
  8. Spiniello C.
  9. Tortora C.
  10. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

We 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.

Keywords
  1. galaxies
  2. interstellar-masers
  3. stellar-ages
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2024A&A...690A.150B
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/690/A150
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/690/A150

Access

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http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/690/A150
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/690/A150
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/690/A150
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http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
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IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
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?

History

2024-10-08T12:05:28Z
Resource record created
2024-10-08T12:05:28Z
Created
2024-11-28T16:24:11Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr