Exploring The Galaxy Mass-Metallicity Relation at 3 < z < 5

TL;DR

This study uses gamma-ray burst host galaxies to investigate the galaxy mass-metallicity relation at redshifts 3 to 5, revealing lower metallicities and evolution of the relation compared to lower redshifts.

Contribution

It presents the first measurements of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation at z~3-5 using GRB hosts, extending understanding of galaxy evolution at high redshift.

Findings

Detected GRB hosts have stellar masses around 2×10^10 solar masses.

Mean metallicity at this mass scale is approximately 0.1 solar.

Evidence suggests the mass-metallicity relation exists at z~3.5 and evolves from lower redshifts.

Abstract

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide a premier tool for studying high-redshift star-forming galaxies thanks to their extreme brightness and association with massive stars. Here we use GRBs to study the galaxy mass-metallicity (M*-Z) relation at z~3-5, where conventional direct metallicity measurements are extremely challenging. We use the interstellar medium metallicities of long-duration GRB hosts derived from afterglow absorption pectroscopy (Z~0.01-1 solar), in conjunction with host galaxy stellar masses determined from deep Spitzer 3.6 micron observations of 20 GRB hosts. We detect about 1/4 of the hosts with I-band absolute magnitudes, M ~ -21.5 to -22.5 AB mag, and place a limit of M>-19 mag on the remaining hosts from a stacking analysis. Using a conservative range of mass-to-light ratios for simple stellar populations (with ages of 70 Myr to ~ 2 Gyr), we infer the host stellar masses and present the galaxy mass-metallicity measurements at z ~ 3-5 (<z> ~ 3.5). We find that the detected GRB hosts, with M* ~ 2e10 solar masses, display a wide range of metallicities, but that the mean metallicity at this mass scale, Z~ 0.1 solar, is lower than measurements at z < 3. Combined with stacking of the non-detected hosts (with M* < 4e9 solar masses and Z < 0.03 solar), we find evidence for the existence of an M*-Z relation at z ~ 3.5 and continued evolution of this relation to systematically lower metallicities from z ~ 2.