The chemical evolution of galaxies on a cosmological timescale is still a
matter of debate despite of 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 a 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 as a star formation rate
independent tracer of the gas phase chemical evolution of galaxies.
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
1.32, and the relation between stellar mass and nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio (MNOR)
up to a redshift 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 all over the 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 taking into account possible selection effects 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 into account the slope of the O/H vs. N/O relation 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 star-formation rate.
Description
[1210.0334] The cosmic evolution of oxygen and nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies over the last 10 Gyrs
%0 Generic
%1 perezmontero2012cosmic
%A Perez-Montero, E.
%A Contini, T.
%A Lamareille, F.
%A Maier, C.
%A Carollo, C. M.
%A Kneib, J. P.
%A Fevre, O. Le
%A Lilly, S.
%A Mainieiri, V.
%A Renzini, A.
%A Scodeggio, M.
%A Zamorani, G.
%A Bardelli, S.
%A Bolzonella, M.
%A Bongiorno, A.
%A Caputi, K.
%A Cucciati, O.
%A de la Torre, S.
%A de Ravel, L.
%A Franzetti, P.
%A Garilli, B.
%A Iovino, A.
%A Kampczyk, P.
%A Knobel, C.
%A Kovac, K.
%A Borgne, J. F. Le
%A Brun, V. Le
%A Mignoli, M.
%A Pello, R.
%A Peng, Y.
%A Presotto, V.
%A Ricciardelli, E.
%A Silverman, J. D.
%A Tanaka, M.
%A Tasca, L. A. M.
%A Tresse, L.
%A Vergani, D.
%A Zucca, E.
%D 2012
%K evolution galaxy gas metallicity
%T The cosmic evolution of oxygen and nitrogen abundances in star-forming
galaxies over the last 10 Gyrs
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.0334
%X The chemical evolution of galaxies on a cosmological timescale is still a
matter of debate despite of 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 a 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 as a star formation rate
independent tracer of the gas phase chemical evolution of galaxies.
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
1.32, and the relation between stellar mass and nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio (MNOR)
up to a redshift 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 all over the 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 taking into account possible selection effects 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 into account the slope of the O/H vs. N/O relation 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 star-formation rate.
@misc{perezmontero2012cosmic,
abstract = {The chemical evolution of galaxies on a cosmological timescale is still a
matter of debate despite of 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 a 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 as a star formation rate
independent tracer of the gas phase chemical evolution of galaxies.
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
1.32, and the relation between stellar mass and nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio (MNOR)
up to a redshift 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 all over the 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 taking into account possible selection effects 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 into account the slope of the O/H vs. N/O relation 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 star-formation rate.},
added-at = {2012-10-02T19:37:38.000+0200},
author = {Perez-Montero, E. and Contini, T. and Lamareille, F. and Maier, C. and Carollo, C. M. and Kneib, J. P. and Fevre, O. Le and Lilly, S. and Mainieiri, V. and Renzini, A. and Scodeggio, M. and Zamorani, G. and Bardelli, S. and Bolzonella, M. and Bongiorno, A. and Caputi, K. and Cucciati, O. and de la Torre, S. and de Ravel, L. and Franzetti, P. and Garilli, B. and Iovino, A. and Kampczyk, P. and Knobel, C. and Kovac, K. and Borgne, J. F. Le and Brun, V. Le and Mignoli, M. and Pello, R. and Peng, Y. and Presotto, V. and Ricciardelli, E. and Silverman, J. D. and Tanaka, M. and Tasca, L. A. M. and Tresse, L. and Vergani, D. and Zucca, E.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/243a30bbb2ab5ca55ac12b9e73be09e69/miki},
description = {[1210.0334] The cosmic evolution of oxygen and nitrogen abundances in star-forming galaxies over the last 10 Gyrs},
interhash = {f82fb88f84994a73881a7f251fad4370},
intrahash = {43a30bbb2ab5ca55ac12b9e73be09e69},
keywords = {evolution galaxy gas metallicity},
note = {cite arxiv:1210.0334Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics},
timestamp = {2012-10-02T19:37:38.000+0200},
title = {The cosmic evolution of oxygen and nitrogen abundances in star-forming
galaxies over the last 10 Gyrs},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.0334},
year = 2012
}