The physics of the fundamental metallicity relation

Abstract

We present a simple, redshift-independent analytic model that explains the local Fundamental Metallicity Relation (FMR), taking into account the physical processes of star formation, inflow of metal-poor intergalactic medium (IGM) gas, and the outflow of metal rich interstellar medium (ISM) gas. We show that the physics of the FMR can be summarised as follows: for massive galaxies with stellar mass M_* >= 10^11 solar masses, ISM metal enrichment due to star formation is compensated by inflow of metal poor IGM gas, leading to a constant value of the gas metallicity with star formation rate (SFR); outflows are rendered negligible as a result of the large potential wells of these galaxies. On the other hand, as a result of their smaller SFR, less massive galaxies produce less heavy elements that are also more efficiently ejected due to their shallow potential wells; as a result, for a given M_*, the gas metallicity decreases with SFR. For such galaxies, the outflow efficiency determines both the slope, and the knee of the metallicity-SFR relation. Without changing any parameters, this simple model is also successfully matched to the gas fraction - gas metallicity relation observed for a sample of about 260 nearby galaxies.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (4)

• Formation of Massive Galaxies at High Redshift: Cold Streams, Clumpy Disks and Compact Spheroids
• An Analytic Model for the Evolution of the Stellar, Gas, and Metal Content of Galaxies
• The Origin of the Galaxy Mass-Metallicity Relation and Implications for Galactic Outflows
• Physical properties of galaxies and their evolution in the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. II. Extending the mass-metallicity relation to the range z=0.89-1.24

Cited by in corpus (121)

• Gas-regulation of galaxies: the evolution of the cosmic sSFR, the metallicity-mass-SFR relation and the stellar content of haloes
• De Re Metallica: The cosmic chemical evolution of galaxies
• The Mass-Metallicity and the Fundamental Metallicity Relation revisited on a fully Te-based abundance scale for galaxies
• The Confinement of Star-Forming Galaxies into a Main Sequence through Episodes of Gas Compaction, Depletion, and Replenishment
• Ionization State of Inter-Stellar Medium in Galaxies: Evolution, SFR-M_star-Z Dependence, and Ionizing Photon Escape
• A Budget and Accounting of Metals at z~0: Results from the COS-Halos Survey
• The Universal Relation of Galactic Chemical Evolution: The Origin of the Mass-Metallicity Relation
• New fully empirical calibrations of strong-line metallicity indicators in star forming galaxies
• The MOSDEF Survey: The Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity Relation from $z=0$ to $z\sim 3.3$
• Metallicity evolution, metallicity gradients and gas fractions at z~3.4
• Metallicity gradients in local field star-forming galaxies: Insights on inflows, outflows, and the coevolution of gas, stars and metals
• The evolution of the mass-metallicity relation in IllustrisTNG
• Star formation sustained by gas accretion
• A fundamental relation between the metallicity, gas content, and stellar mass of local galaxies
• Both starvation and outflows drive galaxy quenching
• Dust attenuation, bulge formation and inside-out cessation of star-formation in Star-Forming Main Sequence galaxies at z~2
• ISM excitation and metallicity of star-forming galaxies at z~3.3 from near-IR spectroscopy
• From haloes to Galaxies - I. The dynamics of the gas regulator model and the implied cosmic sSFR history
• Galaxy metallicity scaling relations in the EAGLE simulations
• The FMOS-COSMOS survey of star-forming galaxies at z~1.6. IV: Excitation state and chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium
• Simulating cosmic metal enrichment by the first galaxies
• The VANDELS ESO public spectroscopic survey
• A Critical Look at the Mass-Metallicity-SFR Relation in the Local Universe. I. An Improved Analysis Framework and Confounding Systematics
• Stellar Absorption Line Analysis of Local Star-Forming Galaxies: The Relation Between Stellar Mass, Metallicity, Dust Attenuation and Star Formation Rate
• Photoionization Models for the Semi-Forbidden C III] 1909 Emission in Star-Forming Galaxies
• Fundamental metallicity relation in CALIFA, SDSS-IV MaNGA and high-z galaxies
• The fundamental plane of star formation in galaxies revealed by the EAGLE hydrodynamical simulations
• P-MaNGA: Emission Lines Properties - Gas Ionisation and Chemical Abundances from Prototype Observations
• The KLEVER Survey: Spatially resolved metallicity maps and gradients in a sample of 1.2 < z < 2.5 lensed galaxies
• The dependence of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation on environment and the implied metallicity of the IGM
• A fundamental metallicity relation for galaxies at z = 0.84 - 1.47 from HiZELS
• Testing the Universality of the Fundamental Metallicity Relation at High Redshift Using Low-Mass Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies
• The mass-metallicity and fundamental metallicity relations at z>2 using VLT and Subaru near-infrared spectroscopy of zCOSMOS galaxies
• Coevolution of metallicity and star formation in galaxies to z=3.7: I. A fundamental plane
• Merger-Induced Metallicity Dilution in Cosmological Galaxy Formation Simulations
• Metallicity inhomogeneities in local star-forming galaxies as sign of recent metal-poor gas accretion
• Strongly star-forming rotating disks in a complex merging system at z = 4,7 as revealed by ALMA
• Binary black holes population and cosmology in new lights: Signature of PISN mass and formation channel in GWTC-3
• The physics of gas phase metallicity gradients in galaxies
• MAGIICAT III. Interpreting Self-Similarity of the Circumgalactic Medium with Virial Mass using MgII Absorption
• Discovery of Strongly Inverted Metallicity Gradients in Dwarf Galaxies at $z$$\sim$2
• From 'bathtub' galaxy evolution models to metallicity gradients
• Galaxy metallicities depend primarily on stellar mass and molecular gas mass
• The chemical evolution of local star forming galaxies: Radial profiles of ISM metallicity, gas mass, and stellar mass and constraints on galactic accretion and winds
• The metallicity evolution of low mass galaxies: New constraints at intermediate redshift
• A Characteristic Mass Scale in the Mass-Metallicity Relation of Galaxies
• Obscured AGN at 1.5 < z < 3.0 from the zCOSMOS-deep Survey I. Properties of the emitting gas in the Narrow Line Region
• The role of atomic hydrogen in regulating the scatter of the mass-metallicity relation
• Slow-then-rapid quenching as traced by tentative evidence for enhanced metallicities of cluster galaxies at z~0.2 in the slow quenching phase
• Exploring Systematic Effects in the Relation Between Stellar Mass, Gas Phase Metallicity, and Star Formation Rate
• GASP XXX. The spatially resolved SFR-Mass relation in stripping galaxies in the local universe
• Properties of ionized outflows in MaNGA DR2 galaxies
• The redshift dependence of black hole mass distribution: Is it reliable for standard sirens cosmology?
• On the origin of the mass-metallicity gradient relation in the local Universe
• A simple model linking galaxy and dark matter evolution
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The inferred mass--metallicity relation from z=0 to 3.5 via forensic SED fitting
• Hide-and-Seek with the Fundamental Metallicity Relation
• The chemical evolution of galaxies with a variable IGIMF
• The challenge of simultaneously matching the observed diversity of chemical abundance patterns in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• Astraeus V: The emergence and evolution of metallicity scaling relations during the Epoch of Reionization
• The mass-metallicity relation at z~1-2 and its dependence on star formation rate
• Mass-Metallicity and Star Formation Rate in Galaxies: a complex relation tuned to stellar age
• The evolution of galaxy metallicity scaling relations in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• The history of the dark and luminous side of Milky Way-like progenitors
• The Main Sequence and the Fundamental Metallicity Relation in MaGICC Galaxies: Evolution and Scatter
• Evidence of very low metallicity and high ionization state in a strongly lensed, star-forming dwarf galaxy at z=3.417
• Galaxy gas flows inferred from a detailed, spatially resolved metal budget
• Gas-phase Metallicity as a Diagnostic of the Drivers of Star-formation on Different Spatial Scales
• Ionized gas kinematics and chemical abundances of low-mass star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 3$
• Mapping metals at high redshift with far-infrared lines
• CLASH-VLT: Strangulation of cluster galaxies in MACSJ0416.1-2403 as seen from their chemical enrichment
• Gas accretion regulates the scatter of the mass-metallicity relation
• Local anti-correlation between star-formation rate and gas-phase metallicity in disk galaxies
• CO Emission, Molecular Gas, and Metallicity in Main-Sequence Star-Forming Galaxies at $z\sim 2.3$
• On the relation between sSFR and metallicity
• Dilution in elliptical galaxies: Implications for the relation between metallicity, stellar mass and star formation rate
• The evolution of the mass-metallicity relations from the VANDELS survey and the GAEA Semi-Analytic model
• The quest for cradles of life: using the fundamental metallicity relation to hunt for the most habitable type of galaxy
• The Kennicutt-Schmidt Relation in Extremely Metal-Poor Dwarf Galaxies
• Young, Star-forming Galaxies and their local Counterparts: the Evolving Relationship of Mass-SFR-Metallicity since z ~ 2.1
• Exploring Chemical Homogeneity in Dwarf Galaxies: A VLT-MUSE study of JKB 18
• DEVILS: Cosmic evolution of SED-derived metallicities and their connection to star-formation histories
• The Evolution of Gas-Phase Metallicity and Resolved Abundances in Star-forming Galaxies at $z\approx 0.6-1.8$
• The origin of the relation between metallicity and size in star-forming galaxies
• Scaling relations of metallicity, stellar mass, and star formation rate in metal-poor starbursts: II. Theoretical models
• Explaining the scatter in the galaxy mass-metallicity relation with gas flows
• EMPRESS. VI. Outflows Investigated in Low-Mass Galaxies with $M_{\ast }=10^4-10^7{M}_{\odot }$: Weak Feedback in Low-Mass Galaxies?
• Scaling relations and baryonic cycling in local star-forming galaxies. III. Outflows, effective yields and metal loading factors
• The $I\kappa \epsilon \alpha$ model of feedback-regulated galaxy formation
• An empirical prediction for stellar metallicity distributions in nearby galaxies
• Coevolution of metallicity and star formation in galaxies to z=3.7: II. A theoretical model
• pop-cosmos: A comprehensive picture of the galaxy population from COSMOS data
• Mass Metallicity Relationship of SDSS Star Forming Galaxies: Population Synthesis Analysis and Effects of Star Burst Length, Extinction Law, Initial Mass Function and Star Formation Rate
• The mass-metallicity relation as a ruler for galaxy evolution: insights from the James Webb Space Telescope
• Dust, gas, and metal content in star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 3.3$ revealed with ALMA and Near-IR spectroscopy
• Environmental dependence of the mass-metallicity relation in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• Gas Accretion and Galactic Chemical Evolution: Theory and Observations
• HI gas content of SDSS galaxies revealed by ALFALFA: implications for the mass-metallicity relation and the environmental dependence of HI in the local Universe
• Chemo-dynamical simulations of dwarf galaxy evolution
• Gas Accretion and Star Formation Rates
• Hadronic Interactions of Energetic Charged Particles in Protogalactic Outflow Environments and Implications for the Early Evolution of Galaxies
• The G-dwarf distribution in star-forming galaxies: a tug-of-war between infall and outflow
• Constraints on galactic outflows from the metallicity-stellar mass-SFR relation of EAGLE simulation and SDSS galaxies
• Explaining the Weak Evolution of the High-Redshift Mass-Metallicity Relation with Galaxy Burst Cycles
• From haloes to galaxies. III. The gas cycle of local galaxy populations
• Insights on Metal Enrichment and Environmental Effect at $z\approx 5-7$ with JWST ASPIRE/EIGER and Chemical Evolution Model
• Spectroscopic confirmation of a dust-obscured, metal-rich dwarf galaxy at z~5
• The impact of environmental effects on AGN: a decline in the incidence of ionized outflows
• Gas Inflow and Outflow Histories in Disk Galaxies as Revealed from Observations of Distant Star-Forming Galaxies
• Low Metallicity Galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey
• Oxygen Abundance Throughout the Dwarf Starburst IC 10
• Rapid, out of equilibrium metal enrichment indicated by a flat mass-metallicity relation at z~6 from NIRCam grism spectroscopy
• Ultra High-Redshift or Closer-by, Dust-Obscured Galaxies? Deciphering the Nature of Faint, Previously Missed F200W-Dropouts in CEERS
• Scaling relations and baryonic cycling in local star-forming galaxies: I. The sample
• HELM's deep: Highly Extincted Low-Mass galaxies seen by JWST
• Aligned and misaligned metallicity gradients in young stars and star-forming regions in the EAGLE discs
• Chemical evolution history of MaNGA galaxies
• Metal-strong Inflows at the Outer-galactic-scale of a Quasar
• Extreme Metallicity Dwarf Galaxies in IllustrisTNG
• The extension of the Fundamental Metallicity Relation beyond the BPT star-forming sequence: evidence for both gas accretion and starvation
• A semi-analytical perspective on massive red galaxies: I. Assembly history, environment & redshift evolution