Mass-dependent chemical enrichment sequences of SDSS star-forming galaxies out to z~0.3 revealed by direct O & Ar abundances

Abstract

Individual stars in the Milky Way (MW) and its satellites have been shown to trace galaxy stellar mass dependent sequences in the $\alpha$-abundance ([$\alpha$/Fe]) vs metallicity ([Fe/H]) plane. Testing the universality of such sequences has been elusive as deep absorption-line spectra required for [$\alpha$/Fe] and [Fe/H] measurements beyond the local group are mostly limited to integrated light from nearby, relatively high-mass, early-type galaxies. However, analogous to [$\alpha$/Fe] vs [Fe/H] for stars, we now have log(O/Ar) vs 12+log(Ar/H) for the integrated nebular light of star-forming galaxies (SFGs). From Sloan-Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) observations of $\sim 3000$ SFGs out to z$\sim 0.3$, where we directly determined O & Ar abundances, we obtain for the first time the distribution of an ensemble of SFGs in the log(O/Ar) vs 12+log(Ar/H) plane. We show that higher (<M${}_{\ast }$>$\sim 2.6\times 10^9$M${}_{\odot }$) and lower mass (<M${}_{\ast }$>$\sim 1.7\times 10^7$M${}_{\odot }$) SFGs clearly trace distinct mass dependent sequences in this plane. Such sequences are consistent with expectations from galaxy chemical evolution (GCE) models that are driven primarily by the interplay of core-collapse and Type Ia supernovae.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 10 pages, 7 figures (+2 in appendix), 1 table

References in corpus (19)

• Star Formation in AEGIS Field Galaxies since z=1.1 : The Dominance of Gradually Declining Star Formation, and the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies
• An Objective Definition for the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies
• The Mass-Metallicity and the Fundamental Metallicity Relation revisited on a fully Te-based abundance scale for galaxies
• The long bar as seen by the VVV survey: I. Colour-magnitude diagrams
• Simulations of Cosmic Chemical Enrichment
• Multi-Element Abundance Measurements from Medium-Resolution Spectra. IV. Alpha Element Distributions in Milky Way Dwarf Satellite Galaxies
• The main sequence of star forming galaxies I. The local relation and its bending
• Stellar Absorption Line Analysis of Local Star-Forming Galaxies: The Relation Between Stellar Mass, Metallicity, Dust Attenuation and Star Formation Rate
• CHAOS VI: Direct Abundances in NGC 2403
• The Fornax3D project: Tracing the assembly history of the cluster from the kinematic and line-strength maps
• Ionization correction factors and dust depletion patterns in giant HII regions
• Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen abundance gradients in M101 and M31
• The survey of planetary nebulae in Andromeda (M 31) V. Chemical enrichment of the thin and thicker discs of Andromeda. Oxygen to argon abundance ratios for planetary nebulae and H II regions
• The survey of planetary nebulae in Andromeda (M31). IV. Radial oxygen and argon abundance gradients of the thin and thicker disc
• The Prime Focus Spectrograph Galaxy Evolution Survey
• The survey of planetary nebulae in Andromeda (M31) VI. Kinematics of M31 inner-halo substructures and comparison with major-merger simulation predictions
• The origin of extreme N-emitters in star-forming galaxies at z$<$0.5 with DESI DR1
• MARTA: Temperature-temperature relationships and strong-line metallicity calibrations from multiple auroral-line detections at cosmic noon
• Weighing Andromeda: Mass estimates of the M~31 galaxy