# Anomalously low metallicity regions in MaNGA star-forming galaxies: Accretion Caught in Action?

## TL;DR

This study identifies and characterizes regions of anomalously low metallicity in star-forming galaxies, linking them to gas accretion events that influence galaxy evolution.

## Contribution

It provides the first large-scale analysis of low-metallicity gas regions in MaNGA galaxies, highlighting their connection to accretion and galaxy interactions.

## Key findings

- 10% of star-forming spaxels show low metallicity
- Higher incidence of ALM gas in disturbed and low-mass galaxies
- ALM regions last a few hundred million years

## Abstract

We use data from 1222 late-type star-forming galaxies in the SDSS IV MaNGA 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$_* \sim10^9$ to 10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$.