The MOSDEF Survey: The Metallicity Dependence of X-ray Binary Populations at $z\sim 2$

Abstract

Population synthesis models predict that high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) populations produced in low metallicity environments should be more X-ray luminous, a trend supported by studies of nearby galaxies. This trend may be responsible for the observed increase of the X-ray luminosity ($L_{\mathrm{X}}$) per star formation rate (SFR) with redshift due to the decrease of metallicity ($Z$) at fixed stellar mass as a function of redshift. To test this hypothesis, we use a sample of 79 $z\sim 2$ star-forming galaxies with oxygen abundance measurements from the MOSDEF survey, which obtained rest-frame optical spectra for $\sim 1500$ galaxies in the CANDELS fields at $1.37<z<3.80$. Using Chandra data from the AEGIS-X Deep, Deep Field North, and Deep Field South surveys, we stack the X-ray data at the galaxy locations in bins of redshift and $Z$ because the galaxies are too faint to be individually detected. In agreement with previous studies, the average $L_{\mathrm{X}}$/SFR of our $z\sim 2$ galaxy sample is enhanced by $\approx 0.4-0.8$ dex relative to local HMXB $L_{\mathrm{X}}$-SFR scaling relations. Splitting our sample by $Z$, we find that $L_{\mathrm{X}}$/SFR and $Z$ are anti-correlated with 97% confidence. This observed $Z$ dependence for HMXB-dominated galaxies is consistent both with the local $L_{\mathrm{X}}$-SFR-$Z$ relation and a subset of population synthesis models. Although the statistical significance of the observed trends is weak due to the low X-ray statistics, these results constitute the first direct evidence connecting the redshift evolution of $L_{\mathrm{X}}$/SFR and the $Z$ dependence of HMXBs.

arXiv comment22 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (90)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• The chemical composition of the Sun
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• The Host Galaxies of AGN
• The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope
• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling I: The relevance of uncertain aspects of stellar evolution and the IMF to the derived physical properties of galaxies
• [O III]/[N II] as an Abundance Indicator at High Redshift
• Mass-loss predictions for O and B stars as a function of metallicity
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey: Initial Results From Optical and Near-Infrared Imaging
• Metallicity Calibrations and the Mass-Metallicity Relation for Star-Forming Galaxies
• A Quantitative Comparison of SMC, LMC, and Milky Way UV to NIR Extinction Curves
• The COSMOS2015 Catalog: Exploring the 1<z<6 Universe with half a million galaxies
• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• The first gravitational-wave source from the isolated evolution of two 40-100 Msun stars
• Astrophysical Implications of the Binary Black-Hole Merger GW150914
• The Chandra Deep Field-North Survey. XIII. 2 Ms Point-Source Catalogs
• The 3D-HST Survey: Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/G141 grism spectra, redshifts, and emission line measurements for $\sim 100,000$ galaxies
• Metallicities of 0.3<z<1.0 Galaxies in the GOODS-North Field
• High Mass X-ray Binaries as a Star Formation Rate Indicator in Distant Galaxies
• Identifying Luminous AGN in Deep Surveys: Revised IRAC Selection Criteria
• Dust-Corrected Star Formation Rates of Galaxies. II. Combinations of Ultraviolet and Infrared Tracers
• Strong Nebular Line Ratios in the Spectra of z~2-3 Star-forming Galaxies: First Results from KBSS-MOSFIRE
• The All-wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS) Data Sets
• The 2-10 keV luminosity as a Star Formation Rate indicator
• X-ray emission from star-forming galaxies - I. High-mass X-ray binaries
• The Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: 7 Ms Source Catalogs
• The Chandra COSMOS Legacy survey: overview and point source catalog
• The MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) Survey: Rest-Frame Optical Spectroscopy for ~1500 H-Selected Galaxies at 1.37 < z < 3.8
• Reconciling the Stellar and Nebular Spectra of High Redshift Galaxies
• The Spectrum of Diffuse Cosmic Hard X-Rays Measured with HEAO-1
• Low mass X-ray binaries as a stellar mass indicator for the host galaxy
• Illuminating Black Hole Binary Formation Channels with Spins in Advanced LIGO
• Bayesian Estimation of Hardness Ratios: Modeling and Computations
• Radiation Backgrounds at Cosmic Dawn: X-Rays from Compact Binaries
• A Chandra Perspective On Galaxy-Wide X-ray Binary Emission And Its Correlation With Star Formation Rate And Stellar Mass: New Results From Luminous Infrared Galaxies
• A Deep, Wide Field, Optical, and Near Infrared Catalog of a Large Area around the Hubble Deep Field North
• The MOSDEF Survey: Electron Density and Ionization Parameter at $z\sim 2.3$
• The Characteristic Star Formation Histories of Galaxies at Redshifts z~2-7
• Observational evidence for intermediate-mass black holes
• X-ray Binary Evolution Across Cosmic Time
• New Limits on 21cm EoR From PAPER-32 Consistent with an X-Ray Heated IGM at z=7.7
• Nebular Emission Line Ratios in z~2-3 Star-Forming Galaxies with KBSS-MOSFIRE: Exploring the Impact of Ionization, Excitation, and Nitrogen-to-Oxygen Ratio
• The MOSDEF Survey: Mass, Metallicity, and Star-formation Rate at z~2.3
• The MOSDEF Survey: Excitation Properties of $z\sim 2.3$ Star-forming Galaxies
• Stellar black holes at the dawn of the universe
• The Evolution of Normal Galaxy X-ray Emission Through Cosmic History: Constraints from the 6 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South
• Energy Feedback from X-ray Binaries in the Early Universe
• Cosmic X-ray background and Earth albedo Spectra with Swift/BAT
• AEGIS-X: The Chandra Deep Survey of the Extended Groth Strip
• Old and Young X-ray Point Source Populations in Nearby Galaxies
• Physical Properties of Emission-Line Galaxies at z ~ 2 from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with Magellan FIRE
• The MOSDEF Survey: Direct-Method Metallicities and ISM Conditions at $z\sim 1.5-3.5$
• Lx-SFR relation in star forming galaxies
• The CFHT Legacy Survey: stacked images and catalogs
• The Effect of Starburst Metallicity on Bright X-Ray Binary Formation Pathways
• The MOSDEF Survey: Optical AGN Diagnostics at z~2.3
• AEGIS-X: Deep Chandra imaging of the Central Groth Strip
• The MOSDEF Survey: Dissecting the star-formation rate vs. stellar mass relation using H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ emission lines at z ~ 2
• The MOSDEF survey: a stellar mass-SFR-metallicity relation exists at $z\sim 2.3$
• The MOSDEF Survey: Significant Evolution in the Rest-Frame Optical Emission Line Equivalent Widths of Star-Forming Galaxies at z=1.4-3.8
• Ultra-Luminous X-Ray Sources in the Most Metal Poor Galaxies
• A population of intermediate-mass black holes in dwarf starburst galaxies up to redshift=1.5
• Enhanced X-ray emission from Lyman Break Analogues and a Possible $L_{\mathrm{X}}$--SFR--Metallicity Plane
• X-rays across the galaxy population I: tracing the main sequence of star formation
• The Taiwan ECDFS Near-Infrared Survey: Ultra-deep J and Ks Imaging in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South
• 2-10 keV luminosity of high-mass binaries as a gauge of ongoing star-formation rate
• The X-ray Star Formation Story as Told by Lyman Break Galaxies in the 4 Ms CDF-S
• The Chandra COSMOS legacy survey: Energy Spectrum of the Cosmic X-ray Background and constraints on undetected populations
• Evidence for Elevated X-ray Emission in Local Lyman Break Galaxy Analogs
• The MOSDEF survey: AGN multi-wavelength identification, selection biases and host galaxy properties
• Star-formation history and X-ray binary populations: the case of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• X-ray binary formation in low-metallicity blue compact dwarf galaxies
• Metallicity dependence of HMXB populations
• The Faintest X-ray Sources from z=0-8
• Clustering between high-mass X-ray binaries and OB associations in the Milky Way
• The MOSDEF Survey: Detection of [OIII]$\lambda$4363 and the direct-method oxygen abundance of a star-forming galaxy at z=3.08
• On the metallicity dependence of HMXBs
• X-rays from Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies
• The MOSDEF Survey: The strong agreement between H-alpha and UV-to-FIR star formation rates for z~2 star-forming galaxies
• X-Ray Binary Populations: The Luminosity Function of NGC1569
• The MOSDEF survey: the prevalence and properties of galaxy-wide AGN-driven outflows at $z\sim 2$
• Low-luminosity AGN and X-ray binary populations in COSMOS star-forming galaxies
• X-ray properties of BzK-selected galaxies in the deepest X-ray fields
• X-Ray Luminous Binaries, Metallicity, and the Early Universe

Cited by in corpus (26)

• A dusty compact object bridging galaxies and quasars at cosmic dawn
• A census of ultraluminous X-ray sources in the local Universe
• The Metallicity Dependence of the High-Mass X-ray Binary Luminosity Function
• The properties of He II 1640 emitters at z ~ 2.5-5 from the VANDELS survey
• Can nebular HeII emission be explained by ultra-luminous X-ray sources?
• Connecting the metallicity dependence and redshift evolution of high-mass X-ray binaries
• X-ray Binary Luminosity Function Scaling Relations in Elliptical Galaxies: Evidence for Globular Cluster Seeding of Low-Mass X-ray Binaries in Galactic Fields
• Elevated Hot Gas and High-Mass X-ray Binary Emission in Low Metallicity Galaxies: Implications for Nebular Ionization and Intergalactic Medium Heating in the Early Universe
• X-ray properties of He II 1640 emitting galaxies in VANDELS
• Evaluating the impact of binary parameter uncertainty on stellar population properties
• Structure Formation and the Global 21-cm Signal in the Presence of Coulomb-like Dark Matter-Baryon Interactions
• Chandra reveals a luminous Compton-thick QSO powering a $Ly\alpha$ blob in a $z=4$ starbursting protocluster
• The importance of stochasticity in determining galaxy emissivities and UV LFs during cosmic dawn and reionization
• The eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS): Presenting The Demographics of X-ray Emission From Normal Galaxies
• The Stellar Age Dependence of X-ray Emission from Normal Star-Forming Galaxies in the GOODS Fields
• The first all-sky survey of star-forming galaxies with eROSITA: Scaling relations and a population of X-ray luminous starbursts
• On the X-ray Spectral Energy Distributions of Star-Forming Galaxies: the 0.3-30 keV Spectrum of the Low-Metallicity Starburst Galaxy VV 114
• The VANDELS Survey: New constraints on the high-mass X-ray binary populations in normal star-forming galaxies at 3 < z < 5.5
• Metallicity and X-ray luminosity variations in NGC 922
• Where Do Obscured AGN Fit in A Galaxy's Timeline?
• Bringing faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to light: a view from large-scale cosmological simulations
• Exploring the Correlation between $\mathrm{H}\alpha$-to-UV Ratio and Burstiness for Typical Star-forming Galaxies at $z\sim 2$
• X-ray Binaries in External Galaxies
• The Large Deficit of HMXB Emission from Luminous Infrared Galaxies: the Case of the Circumnuclear Starburst Ring in NGC 7552
• Narrowing the discovery space of the cosmological 21-cm signal using multi-wavelength constraints
• The 21-cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn: metallicity dependence of high mass X-ray binaries