SDSS-IV/MaNGA: Can impulsive gaseous inflows explain steep oxygen abundance profiles \& anomalously-low-metallicity regions?

Abstract

Gaseous inflows are necessary suppliers of galaxies' star-forming fuel, but are difficult to characterize at the survey scale. We use integral-field spectroscopic measurements of gas-phase metallicity and single-dish radio measurements of total atomic gas mass to estimate the magnitude and frequency of gaseous inflows incident on star-forming galaxies. We reveal a mutual correlation between steep oxygen abundance profiles between $0.25-1.5R_e$, increased variability of metallicity between $1.25-1.75R_e$, and elevated HI content at fixed total galaxy stellar mass. Employing a simple but intuitive inflow model, we find that galaxies with total stellar mass less than $10^{10.1}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ have local oxygen abundance profiles consistent with reinvigoration by inflows. Approximately 10-25\% of low-mass galaxies possess signatures of recent accretion, with estimated typical enhancements of approximately 10-90\% in local gas mass surface density. Higher-mass galaxies have limited evidence for such inflows. The large diversity of HI mass implies that inflow-associated gas ought to reside far from the star-forming disk. We therefore propose that a combination of high HI mass, steep metallicity profile between $0.25-1.5R_e$, and wide metallicity distribution function between $1.25-1.75R_e$ be employed to target possible hosts of inflowing gas for high-resolution radio follow-up.