Gas-phase metallicity break radii of star-forming galaxies in IllustrisTNG

TL;DR

This study analyzes gas-phase metallicity profiles and break radii in star-forming galaxies across redshifts 0-3 using TNG simulations, revealing how these features relate to galaxy mass, size, and gas mixing processes.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of metallicity break radii in galaxies from TNG simulations and compares results across different simulation resolutions and physics models.

Findings

Break radius correlates positively with galaxy mass, weakening at higher redshifts.

Normalized break radius shows weaker dependence on mass and redshift.

Break occurs where gas mixing time-scale exceeds enrichment time-scale by about ten times.

Abstract

We present radial gas-phase metallicity profiles, gradients, and break radii at redshift $z = 0 - 3$ from the TNG50-1 star-forming galaxy population. These metallicity profiles are characterized by an emphasis on identifying the steep inner gradient and flat outer gradient. From this, the break radius, $r_{\rm Break}$, is defined as the region where the transition occurs. We observe the break radius having a positive trend with mass that weakens with redshift. When normalized by the stellar half-mass radius, the break radius has a weaker relation with both mass and redshift. To test if our results are dependent on the resolution or adopted physics of TNG50-1, the same analysis is performed in TNG50-2 and Illustris-1. We find general agreement between each of the simulations in their qualitative trends; however, the adopted physics between TNG and Illustris differ and therefore the breaks, normalized by galaxy size, deviate by a factor of $\sim$2. In order to understand where the break comes from, we define two relevant time-scales: an enrichment time-scale and a radial gas mixing time-scale. We find that $r_{\rm Break}$ occurs where the gas mixing time-scale is $\sim$10 times as long as the enrichment time-scale in all three simulation runs, with some weak mass and redshift dependence. This implies that galactic disks can be thought of in two-parts: a star-forming inner disk with a steep gradient and a mixing-dominated outer disk with a flat gradient, with the break radius marking the region of transition between them.