%0 Generic %1 peng2013dependence %A Peng, Yingjie %A Maiolino, Roberto %D 2013 %K galaxy igm metallicity %T The dependence of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation on environment and the implied metallicity of the IGM %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1311.1816 %X We explore the dependence of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation on environment in SDSS, in terms of both over-density and central/satellite dichotomy. We find that at a given stellar mass, there is a strong dependence of metallicity on over-density for star-forming satellites. Instead, for star-forming centrals no correlation is found. Star-forming satellites at different stellar masses form a tight sequence in the average overdensity - metallicity plane, which covers the entire observed range of metallicities and stellar masses. This remarkable result appears to imply that there exists a universal evolutionary path for all star-forming satellites, regardless of their stellar masses. The strong correlation between over-density and metallicity for star-forming satellites indicates that the gas inflow of satellite galaxies is progressively metal-enriched in denser regions. We interpret our results by employing the gas regulator model and find that the metallicity of the enriched inflow of star-forming satellite galaxies strongly increases with increasing over-density, largely independently of stellar mass. If the metallicity of the inflow of star-forming satellites can represent the metallicity of the IGM, then the implied metallicity of the IGM rises from ~ 0.01 solar metallicity in void-like environments to ~ 0.3 solar metallicity in cluster-like environments, in broad agreement with observations. We show that the observed metallicity difference between star-forming centrals and star-forming satellites becoming smaller towards high stellar masses can be simply explained by the mass-independent enriched inflow, without the need to involve any mass-dependent environmental effect on metallicity. Since satellite galaxies account for at least half of the galaxy population, our findings prompt for a revision of many galaxy evolutionary models, which generally assume pristine gas inflows.

@misc{peng2013dependence, abstract = {We explore the dependence of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation on environment in SDSS, in terms of both over-density and central/satellite dichotomy. We find that at a given stellar mass, there is a strong dependence of metallicity on over-density for star-forming satellites. Instead, for star-forming centrals no correlation is found. Star-forming satellites at different stellar masses form a tight sequence in the average overdensity - metallicity plane, which covers the entire observed range of metallicities and stellar masses. This remarkable result appears to imply that there exists a universal evolutionary path for all star-forming satellites, regardless of their stellar masses. The strong correlation between over-density and metallicity for star-forming satellites indicates that the gas inflow of satellite galaxies is progressively metal-enriched in denser regions. We interpret our results by employing the gas regulator model and find that the metallicity of the enriched inflow of star-forming satellite galaxies strongly increases with increasing over-density, largely independently of stellar mass. If the metallicity of the inflow of star-forming satellites can represent the metallicity of the IGM, then the implied metallicity of the IGM rises from ~ 0.01 solar metallicity in void-like environments to ~ 0.3 solar metallicity in cluster-like environments, in broad agreement with observations. We show that the observed metallicity difference between star-forming centrals and star-forming satellites becoming smaller towards high stellar masses can be simply explained by the mass-independent enriched inflow, without the need to involve any mass-dependent environmental effect on metallicity. Since satellite galaxies account for at least half of the galaxy population, our findings prompt for a revision of many galaxy evolutionary models, which generally assume pristine gas inflows.}, added-at = {2013-11-12T04:49:41.000+0100}, author = {Peng, Yingjie and Maiolino, Roberto}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2672521651b578f10c4bae61eab7c0ff6/miki}, description = {[1311.1816] The dependence of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation on environment and the implied metallicity of the IGM}, interhash = {824dd34463567fe4bc067d235c89627c}, intrahash = {672521651b578f10c4bae61eab7c0ff6}, keywords = {galaxy igm metallicity}, note = {cite arxiv:1311.1816Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS}, timestamp = {2013-11-12T04:49:41.000+0100}, title = {The dependence of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation on environment and the implied metallicity of the IGM}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1311.1816}, year = 2013 }