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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
SDSS IV MaNGA metallicity and nitrogen abundance gradients in local galaxies
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 469, No. 1, Year 2017
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Description
We study the gas phase metallicity (O/H) and nitrogen abundance gradients traced by starforming regions in a representative sample of 550 nearby galaxies in the stellar mass range 109 1011.5 M with resolved spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey. Using strong-line ratio diagnostics (R23 and O3N2 for metallicity and N2O2 for N/O) and referencing to the effective (half-light) radius (Re), we find that the metallicity gradient steepens with stellar mass, lying roughly flat among galaxies with log (M/M) = 9.0 but exhibiting slopes as steep as -0.14 dex Re-1 at log (M/M) = 10.5 (using R23, but equivalent results are obtained using O3N2). At higher masses, these slopes remain typical in the outer regions of our sample (R > 1.5Re), but a flattening is observed in the central regions (R < 1Re). In the outer regions (R > 2.0Re), we detect a mild flattening of the metallicity gradient in stacked profiles, although with low significance. The N/O ratio gradient provides complementary constraints on the average chemical enrichment history. Unlike the oxygen abundance, the average N/O profiles do not flatten out in the central regions of massive galaxies. The metallicity and N/O profiles both depart significantly from an exponential form, suggesting a disconnect between chemical enrichment and stellar mass surface density on local scales. In the context of inside-out growth of discs, our findings suggest that central regions of massive galaxies today have evolved to an equilibrium metallicity, while the nitrogen abundance continues to increase as a consequence of delayed secondary nucleosynthetic production. © 2017 The Authors.
Authors & Co-Authors
Belfiore, Francesco M.C.
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Maiolino, Roberto
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Tremonti, Christy A.
United States, Madison
University of Wisconsin-madison
Sánchez, Sebastián F.
Mexico, Mexico
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Bundy, Kevin A.
United States, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
Bershady, Matthew A.
United States, Madison
University of Wisconsin-madison
Westfall, Kyle B.
United States, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
Lin, Lihwai
United States, Austin
The University of Texas at Austin
Boquien, Médéric
Chile, Antofagasta
Universidad de Antofagasta
Thomas, Daniel B.
United Kingdom, Portsmouth
University of Portsmouth
Brinkmann, Jonathan V.
United States, Sunspot
Apache Point Observatory
Statistics
Citations: 188
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 9
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1093/mnras/stx789
ISSN:
00358711
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Quantitative