Anomalously Low-metallicity Regions in MaNGA Star-forming Galaxies: Accretion Caught in Action?

Hwang, Hsiang-Chih; Barrera-Ballesteros, Jorge K.; Heckman, Timothy M.; Rowlands, Kate; Lin, Lihwai; Rodriguez-Gomez, Vicente; Pan, Hsi-An; Hsieh, Bau-Ching; Sánchez, Sebastian; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Sánchez Almeida, J.; Thilker, David A.; Lotz, Jennifer M.; Jones, Amy; Nair, Preethi; Andrews, Brett H.; Drory, Niv
Referencia bibliográfica

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 872, Issue 2, article id. 144, 22 pp. (2019).

Fecha de publicación:
2
2019
Número de autores
17
Número de autores del IAC
1
Número de citas
43
Número de citas referidas
39
Descripción
We use data from 1222 late-type star-forming galaxies in the SDSS IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey to identify regions in which the gas-phase metallicity is anomalously low compared to expectations from the tight empirical relation between metallicity and stellar surface mass density at a given stellar mass. We find anomalously low-metallicity (ALM) gas in 10% of the star-forming spaxels and in 25% of the galaxies in the sample. The incidence rate of ALM gas increases strongly with both global and local measures of the specific star formation rate and is higher in lower mass galaxies and in the outer regions of galaxies. The incidence rate is also significantly higher in morphologically disturbed galaxies. We estimate that the lifetimes of the ALM regions are a few hundred Myr. We argue that the ALM gas has been delivered to its present location by a combination of interactions, mergers, and accretion from the halo, and that this infusion of gas stimulates star formation. Given the estimated lifetime and duty cycle of such events, we estimate that the time-averaged accretion rate of ALM gas is similar to the star formation rate in late-type galaxies over the mass range {M}* ∼ {10}9–1010 M ⊙.
Proyectos relacionados
Imagen del Proyecto
Grupo de Estudios de Formación Estelar GEFE
El proyecto interno GEFE está enmarcado en el proyecto coordinado, ESTALLIDOS, financiado por el plan nacional desde el año 2001. El ultimo proyecto aprobado es ESTALLIDOS 6.0 (AYA2016- 79724-C4-2-P). En el proyecto GEFE trabajamos en base al caso científico del proyecto ESTALLIDOS 6.0. Los estallidos de formación estelar (Starbursts o SB) son
Casiana
Muñoz Tuñón