IMAGES IV: strong evolution of the oxygen abundance in gaseous phases of intermediate mass galaxies from z ~ 0.8

Context. Intermediate mass galaxies (> 1010 $M_\odot$) at z ~ 0.6 are the likeliest progenitors of the present-day, numerous population of spirals. There is growing evidence that they have evolved rapidly in the last 6 to 8 Gyr, and likely already have formed a significant fraction of their stell...

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Published in:Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin) 2008-12, Vol.492 (2), p.371-388
Main Authors: Rodrigues, M., Hammer, F., Flores, H., Puech, M., Liang, Y. C., Fuentes-Carrera, I., Nesvadba, N., Lehnert, M., Yang, Y., Amram, P., Balkowski, C., Cesarsky, C., Dannerbauer, H., Delgado, R., Guiderdoni, B., Kembhavi, A., Neichel, B., Östlin, G., Pozzetti, L., Ravikumar, C. D., Rawat, A., di Serego Alighieri, S., Vergani, D., Vernet, J., Wozniak, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
galaxies: evolution
galaxies: ISM
galaxies: spiral
galaxies: starburst
infrared: galaxies
Sciences of the Universe
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Summary:Context. Intermediate mass galaxies (> 1010 $M_\odot$) at z ~ 0.6 are the likeliest progenitors of the present-day, numerous population of spirals. There is growing evidence that they have evolved rapidly in the last 6 to 8 Gyr, and likely already have formed a significant fraction of their stellar mass, often showing perturbed morphologies and kinematics. Aims. We have gathered a representative sample of 88 such galaxies and have provided robust estimates of their gas phase metallicity. Methods. We used moderate spectral resolution spectroscopy at VLT/FORS2 with an unprecedentedly high $S/N$ allowing us to remove biases coming from interstellar absorption lines and extinction, to establish robust values of R23 = ([OII]λ3727 + [OIII]$\lambda\lambda$4959, 5007)/Hβ. Results. We definitively confirm that the predominant population of z ~ 0.6 starbursts and luminous IR galaxies (LIRGs) are on average two times less metal rich than the local galaxies at a given stellar mass. We do find that the metal abundance of the gaseous phase of galaxies evolves linearly with time, from $z = 1$ to $z = 0$ and after comparing with other studies, from $z = 3$ to $z = 0$. Combining our results with the reported evolution of the Tully Fisher relation, we find that such an evolution requires that ~30% of the stellar mass of local galaxies have been formed through an external supply of gas, thus excluding the closed box model. Distant starbursts & LIRGs have properties (metal abundance, star formation efficiency & morphologies) similar to those of local LIRGs. Their underlying physics is likely dominated by gas infall, probably through merging or interactions. Conclusions. Our study further supports the rapid evolution of z ~ 0.4–1 galaxies. Gas exchange between galaxies is likely the main cause of this evolution.
ISSN:0004-6361
1432-0746
1432-0756
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361:200810435