A quantitative demonstration that stellar feedback locally regulates galaxy growth

Abstract

We have applied stellar population synthesis to 500 pc sized regions in a sample of 102 galaxy discs observed with the MUSE spectrograph. We derived the star formation history and analyse specifically the "recent" ($20\mathrm{Myr}$) and "past" ($570\mathrm{Myr}$) age bins. Using a star formation self-regulator model we can derive local mass-loading factors, $\eta$ for specific regions, and find that this factor depends on the local stellar mass surface density, ${\Sigma }_{\ast }$, in agreement with the predictions form hydrodynamical simulations including supernova feedback. We integrate the local $\eta$-${\Sigma }_{\ast }$ relation using the stellar mass surface density profiles from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G) to derive global mass-loading factors, ${\eta }_{\mathrm{G}}$, as a function of stellar mass, $M_{\ast }$. The ${\eta }_{\mathrm{G}}$-$M_{\ast }$ relation found is in very good agreement with hydrodynamical cosmological zoom-in galaxy simulations. The method developed here offers a powerful way of testing different implementations of stellar feedback, to check on how realistic are their predictions.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

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