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The cosmic evolution of oxygen and nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies over the past 10 Gyr
- Source :
- Astronomy and Astrophysics-A&A, Astronomy and Astrophysics-A&A, EDP Sciences, 2013, 549, ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201220070⟩, Astronomy & astrophysics, 549:A25. EDP Sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics-A&A, 2013, 549, ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201220070⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- EDP Sciences, 2013.
-
Abstract
- The chemical evolution of galaxies on a cosmological timescale is still a matter of debate despite the increasing number of available data provided by spectroscopic surveys of star-forming galaxies at different redshifts. The fundamental relations involving metallicity, such as the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) or the fundamental-metallicity relation, give controversial results about the reality of evolution of the chemical content of galaxies at a given stellar mass. In this work we shed some light on this issue using the completeness reached by the 20k bright sample of the zCOSMOS survey and using for the first time the nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio (N/O) as a tracer of the gas phase chemical evolution of galaxies that is independent of the star formation rate. Emission-line galaxies both in the SDSS and 20k zCOSMOS bright survey were used to study the evolution from the local Universe of the $MZR up to a redshift of 1.32 and the relation between stellar mass and nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio (MNOR) up to a redshift of 0.42 using the N2S2 parameter. All the physical properties derived from stellar continuum and gas emission-lines, including stellar mass, star formation rates, metallicity and N/O, were calculated in a self-consistent way over the full redshift range. We confirm the trend to find lower metallicities in galaxies of a given stellar mass in a younger Universe. This trend is even observed when taking possible selection effects into account that are due to the observed larger median star formation rates for galaxies at higher redshifts. We also find a significant evolution of the MNOR up to z = 0.4. Taking the slope of the O/H vs. N/O relation into account for the secondary-nitrogen production regime, the observed evolution of the MNOR is consistent with the trends found for both the MZR and its equivalent relation using new expressions to reduce its dependence on SFR.<br />Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Replaced to match published version and references corrected
- Subjects :
- Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
Stellar mass
Metallicity
MASS-METALLICITY RELATION
chemistry.chemical_element
FOS: Physical sciences
PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES
galaxies: starburst
Astrophysics
Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
COSMOLOGICAL HYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS
01 natural sciences
Physical cosmology
H-II REGIONS
galaxies: abundance
EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES
0103 physical sciences
Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
galaxies: fundamental parameter
Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics
SIMILAR-TO 1.4
Chemical content
Physics
[SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]
010308 nuclear & particles physics
Star formation
Astronomy and Astrophysics
galaxies: fundamental parameters
VLT DEEP SURVEY
CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES
Nitrogen
Redshift
Galaxy
chemistry
Space and Planetary Science
DIGITAL SKY SURVEY
galaxies: abundances
galaxies: evolution
STELLAR MASS
Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14320746 and 00046361
- Volume :
- 549
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Astronomy & astrophysics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....9ee495dccab7372d3a0870281756bf38