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Journal ArticleDOI

The Origin of the Mass--Metallicity Relation: Insights from 53,000 Star-Forming Galaxies in the SDSS

TL;DR: In this article, the relation between stellar mass and gas-phase metallicity was studied using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging and spectroscopy of ~53,000 star-forming galaxies at z~0.1.
Abstract: We utilize Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging and spectroscopy of ~53,000 star-forming galaxies at z~0.1 to study the relation between stellar mass and gas-phase metallicity. We derive gas-phase oxygen abundances and stellar masses using new techniques which make use of the latest stellar evolutionary synthesis and photoionization models. We find a tight (+/-0.1 dex) correlation between stellar mass and metallicity spanning over 3 orders of magnitude in stellar mass and a factor of 10 in metallicity. The relation is relatively steep from 10^{8.5} - 10^{10.5} M_sun, in good accord with known trends between luminosity and metallicity, but flattens above 10^{10.5} M_sun. We use indirect estimates of the gas mass based on the H-alpha luminosity to compare our data to predictions from simple closed box chemical evolution models. We show that metal loss is strongly anti-correlated with baryonic mass, with low mass dwarf galaxies being 5 times more metal-depleted than L* galaxies at z~0.1. Evidence for metal depletion is not confined to dwarf galaxies, but is found in galaxies with masses as high as 10^{10} M_sun. We interpret this as strong evidence both of the ubiquity of galactic winds and of their effectiveness in removing metals from galaxy potential wells.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Virgo Consortium's EAGLE project as discussed by the authors is a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and black holes in representative volumes, where thermal energy is injected into the gas, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors.
Abstract: We introduce the Virgo Consortium's EAGLE project, a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and black holes in representative volumes. We discuss the limitations of such simulations in light of their finite resolution and poorly constrained subgrid physics, and how these affect their predictive power. One major improvement is our treatment of feedback from massive stars and AGN in which thermal energy is injected into the gas without the need to turn off cooling or hydrodynamical forces, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors. Because the feedback efficiencies cannot be predicted from first principles, we calibrate them to the z~0 galaxy stellar mass function and the amplitude of the galaxy-central black hole mass relation, also taking galaxy sizes into account. The observed galaxy mass function is reproduced to ≲0.2 dex over the full mass range, 108

2,828 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that at low z < 1, the cosmic star formation rate degrades due to geometry, as the typical cross section of filaments begins to exceed that of the galaxies at their intersections.
Abstract: Not the way one might have thought. In hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation, some gas follows the traditionally envisioned route, shock heating to the halo virial temperature before cooling to the much lower temperature of the neutral ISM. But most gas enters galaxies without ever heating close to the virial temperature, gaining thermal energy from weak shocks and adiabatic compression, and radiating it just as quickly. This “cold mode” accretion is channeled along filaments, while the conventional, “hot mode” accretion is quasi-spherical. Cold mode accretion dominates high redshift growth by a substantial factor, while at z < 1 the overall accretion rate declines and hot mode accretion has greater relative importance. The decline of the cosmic star formation rate at low z is driven largely by geometry, as the typical cross section of filaments begins to exceed that of the galaxies at their intersections.

2,155 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an analysis of the host properties of 85224 emission-line galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and derive a new empirical classification scheme which cleanly separates star-forming galaxies, composite AGN-H ii galaxies, Seyferts and LINERs and study the host galaxy properties of these different classes of objects.
Abstract: We present an analysis of the host properties of 85224 emission-line galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We show that Seyferts and LINERs form clearly separated branches on the standard optical diagnostic diagrams. We derive a new empirical classification scheme which cleanly separates star-forming galaxies, composite AGN-H ii galaxies, Seyferts and LINERs and we study the host galaxy properties of these different classes of objects. LINERs are older, more massive, less dusty and more concentrated, and they and have higher velocity dispersions and lower [OIII] luminosities than Seyfert galaxies. Seyferts and LINERs are most strongly distinguished by their [OIII] luminosities. We then consider the quantity L[OIII]/σ 4 , which is an indicator of the black hole accretion rate relative to the Eddington rate. Remarkably, we find that at fixed L[OIII]/σ 4 , all differences between Seyfert and LINER host properties disappear. LINERs and Seyferts form a continuous sequence, with LINERs dominant at low L/LEDD and Seyferts dominant at high L/LEDD . These results suggest that the majority of LINERs are AGN and that the Seyfert/LINER dichotomy is analogous to the high/low-state transition for X-ray binary systems. We apply theoretical photo-ionization models and show that pure LINERs require a harder ionizing radiation field with lower ionization parameter than Seyfert galaxies, consistent with the low and high X-ray binary states.

2,116 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors simulate the growth of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes by implementing a suite of semi-analytic models on the output of the Millennium Run, a very large simulation of the concordance A cold dark matter cosmogony.
Abstract: We simulate the growth of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes by implementing a suite of semi-analytic models on the output of the Millennium Run, a very large simulation of the concordance A cold dark matter cosmogony. Our procedures follow the detailed assembly history of each object and are able to track the evolution of all galaxies more massive than the Small Magellanic Cloud throughout a volume comparable to that of large modern redshift surveys. In this first paper we supplement previous treatments of the growth and activity of central black holes with a new model for 'radio' feedback from those active galactic nuclei that lie at the centre of a quasi-static X-ray-emitting atmosphere in a galaxy group or cluster. We show that for energetically and observationally plausible parameters such a model can simultaneously explain: (i) the low observed mass drop-out rate in cooling flows; (ii) the exponential cut-off at the bright end of the galaxy luminosity function; and (iii) the fact that the most massive galaxies tend to be bulge-dominated systems in clusters and to contain systematically older stars than lower mass galaxies. This success occurs because static hot atmospheres form only in the most massive structures, and radio feedback (in contrast, for example, to supernova or starburst feedback) can suppress further cooling and star formation without itself requiring star formation. We discuss possible physical models that might explain the accretion rate scalings required for our phenomenological 'radio mode' model to be successful.

1,997 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) as discussed by the authors was designed to measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys of large-scale structure.
Abstract: The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys of large-scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as i = 19.9 over 10,000 deg2 to measure BAO to redshifts z < 0.7. Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyα forest in more than 150,000 quasar spectra (g < 22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15 < z < 3.5. Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale three-dimensional clustering of the Lyα forest and a strong detection from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield measurements of the angular diameter distance dA to an accuracy of 1.0% at redshifts z = 0.3 and z = 0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyα forest constraints predict a measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate DA (z) and H –1(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z ~ 2.5 when the survey is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of BOSS.

1,938 citations