NIR Spectroscopy of Star-Forming Galaxies at z~1.4 with Subaru/FMOS: The Mass-Metallicity Relation

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared spectroscopy to measure the mass-metallicity relation of star-forming galaxies at z~1.4, revealing its position between lower and higher redshift relations, with insights into scatter and dependencies on SFR and galaxy size.

Contribution

First measurement of the mass-metallicity relation at z~1.4 using FMOS spectroscopy, analyzing its evolution, scatter, and dependence on galaxy properties.

Findings

Mass-metallicity relation at z~1.4 is between z~0.8 and z~2.2.

Intrinsic scatter in the relation is ~0.1 dex or larger.

Metallicity deviations depend on SFR and galaxy size.

Abstract

We present near-infrared spectroscopic observations of star-forming galaxies at z~1.4 with FMOS on the Subaru Telescope. We observed K-band selected galaxies in the SXDS/UDS fields with K<23.9 mag, 1.2<z_ph<1.6, M*>10^{9.5} Msun, and expected F(Halpha)>10^{-16} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2}. 71 objects in the sample have significant detections of Halpha. For these objects, excluding possible AGNs identified from the BPT diagram, gas-phase metallicities are obtained from [NII]/Halpha line ratio. The sample is split into three stellar mass bins, and the spectra are stacked in each stellar mass bin. The mass-metallicity relation obtained at z~1.4 is located between those at z~0.8 and z~2.2. We constrain an intrinsic scatter to be ~0.1 dex or larger in the mass-metallicity relation at z~1.4; the scatter may be larger at higher redshifts. We found trends that the deviation from the mass-metallicity relation depends on the SFR and the half light radius: Galaxies with higher SFR and larger half light radii show lower metallicities at a given stellar mass. One possible scenario for the trends is the infall of pristine gas accreted from IGM or through merger events. Our data points show larger scatter than the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) at z~0.1 and the average metallicities slightly deviate from the FMR. The compilation of the mass-metallicity relations at z~3 to z~0.1 shows that they evolve smoothly from z~3 to z~0 without changing the shape so much except for the massive part at z~0.