The "bubbly" interstellar medium as origin for the inhomogeneous internal metallicity distributions in large disk galaxies

TL;DR

This paper proposes that small-scale metallicity variations in disk galaxies originate from superbubbles created by supernovae, with their size and metal content linked to galaxy properties, challenging the assumption of a well-mixed interstellar medium.

Contribution

It introduces a model connecting superbubble-driven metallicity fluctuations to galaxy scale height and star formation efficiency, supported by analysis of observational data.

Findings

Metallicity fluctuations are approximately 300 pc in size.

Star formation efficiency in superbubbles is estimated between 0.1 and 0.2.

Small-scale ISM structures vary with global galaxy properties.

Abstract

Resolved metallicity studies of local disk galaxies have revealed that their interstellar media (ISMs) are far from chemically homogeneous, displaying significant ($\sim 0.05$ dex) variations in the metallicity on characteristic scales of a few hundred parsecs. Such data is at odds with most analytical models, where the ISM is predicted to be more well-mixed. Here, we suggest that the observed small-scale features seen in galaxies may be superbubbles of metal-enriched gas created by a collection of core collapse supernovae with tight spatial (and temporal) correlation. In this scenario, the size of the metallicity fluctuations (superbubble radius, $\phi$) is set by the disk scale height of the galaxy in question (after which point shock breakout favours preferential expansion along directions perpendicular to the dense disc), and the amount of additional metals contained within a fluctuation is proportional to the star formation efficiency in superbubble regions ($\epsilon$). To test this theory, we analysed metallicity maps from the PHANGS-MUSE sample of galaxies using a geostatistical forward-modelling approach. We find $\phi \simeq 300$ pc and $\epsilon = 0.1-0.2$, in good agreement with our theoretical model. Further, these small-scale parameters are found to be related to the global galaxy properties, suggesting that the local structure of the interstellar medium of galaxies is not universal. Such a model of star formation paints a new picture of galaxy evolution in the modern universe: in large local galaxies, star formation appears steady and regular when averaged over large scales. However, on small scales, these large galaxies remain intrinsically bursty like their smaller, high-redshift counterparts.