DREAMS.II. Galaxy Demographics from Direct Te-Based Metallicities at z~2-10: Tracing the Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity and Fundamental Relations

TL;DR

This study uses JWST spectra to analyze galaxy metallicities at high redshift, revealing evolution in the mass-metallicity and fundamental relations from z~2 to 12, driven by gas inflow and outflow changes.

Contribution

It provides the first direct Te-based metallicity measurements at z=2-10, demonstrating the evolution of galaxy chemical properties and relations over cosmic time.

Findings

Metallicity decreases from z~3 to 10 at fixed stellar mass.

The mass-metallicity relation shows a monotonic decline with redshift.

Gas inflow and outflow rates increase significantly at z>8.

Abstract

We present the statistics of line ratios and direct Te-based metallicities from JWST medium-resolution spectra of 292 galaxies at z=2-10, combining DREAMS observations with those of JADES and CEERS. To remove systematics caused by stellar mass (M*) and star formation rate (SFR), we construct stacked spectra binned by redshift within fixed M* and SFR ranges, as well as across the full ranges. We find that the [OII]3727/Hb ratio drops by a factor of five from z~3 to 8 at fixed M* and SFR, in contrast to the nearly constant [OIII]5007/Hb ratio. We derive metallicities via the direct Te method using the [OIII]4363 line, and identify that high-z galaxies lie on the low-metallicity end of the anti-correlation between ionization parameter and metallicity at z~0. Photoionization modeling demonstrates that the redshift evolution, where metallicity decreases and ionization parameter increases, self-consistently explains the observed line ratios. We then examine the mass-metallicity (MZ) and fundamental (MZ-SFR) relations. Including additional galaxies at z~10-12, we find that the MZ relation monotonically decreases from z~3 to 10 at fixed M*, while the MZ-SFR relation shows a significant decline at z>8. Based on the ChemicalUniverseMachine model, this evolutionary trend can be explained by enhanced gas inflow (outflow) by a factor of ~5 (~1.7) at z>8.