J/A+A/686/A81 AC114 galaxies mass-metallicity relation (Andrade+, 2024)
The galaxy cluster AC114.
III. The role of galaxy clusters in the mass-metallicity relation.
Andrade A., Saviane I., Monaco L., Yegorova I., Proust D.
<Astron. Astrophys. 686, A81 (2024)>
=2024A&A...686A..81A 2024A&A...686A..81A (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Clusters, galaxy ; Photometry ; Optical ; Abundances
Keywords: galaxies: abundances - galaxies: clusters: general -
galaxies: distances and redshifts - galaxies: evolution -
galaxies: interactions - quasars: emission lines
Abstract:
The mass-metallicity relation (MZR) is a powerful tool to constrain
internal physical processes that drive the chemical evolution of
galaxies. However, the construction of this relation is carried out
with field star-forming galaxies in big data surveys where
environmental effects are either negligible or not studied in detail.
We study the role of galaxy clusters in the MZR and its evolution at
z=0.317 with star-forming members of AC114 (ABELL S1077). The purpose
of this work is to understand how both the environmental effects and
dynamical events modify the chemical evolution in this galaxy cluster.
Spectroscopic VIMOS/VLT data was used to select cluster members and
classify the galaxy sample in star-forming and passive galaxies.
Gas-phase metallicities were estimated by using the strong-line method
O3N2 calibrated on Te-based oxygen abundances. Available optical and
near-infrared (NIR) photometry from DECaLS DR10 and the VIKING DR4 ESO
survey was used to derive the stellar mass of the galaxy sample.
AC114 is dominated by passive galaxies located in the central region
of the cluster, whereas the star-forming members tend to be located
outside this region. The constructed MZR from the latter indicates
that star-forming galaxies have a lower metal content than foreground
galaxies (spanning redshifts up to z=0.28), and the same or even lower
metallicities with respect to background galaxies (spanning redshifts
0.34 to 0.70). Additionally, it shows a higher scatter of
σ=0.17dex, consistent with MZRs of galaxy clusters reported in
the literature. The MZR at z=0.317 is downshifted by 0.19dex on
average with respect to local galaxies. Comparing the AC114-MZR with
the field MZR at the same redshift, two galaxies are found to be more
metal-rich than the field ones by ∼0.10dex. Likely as a result of
ram-pressure stripping, star-forming galaxies deviate more from the
MZR than field galaxies at the same redshift. Star-forming galaxies in
the cluster are in general metal-poorer than field galaxies at the
same redshift up to ∼0.22dex, and show a MZR that is slightly
shallower in slope compared with that of field galaxies. With a
redshift analysis, three substructures were identified: star-forming
galaxies in the main component show a higher scatter of 0.20dex in
metallicity than both the front and back ones, with a scatter of 0.07
and 0.11dex, respectively. Star-forming galaxies located outside the
central region of AC114 are driving the shallower slope of the cluster
MZR.
The slightly shallower slope and high scatter of AC114 with respect to
foreground and background galaxies in the mass-metallicity plane
indicates that galaxies are suffering from environmental and dynamical
effects. Ram-pressure stripping and strangulation are likely the main
drivers in increasing the metallicities of at least two star-forming
members with respect to the field MZR at the same redshift. However,
the lower metallicities of the star-forming members, which drive the
flatter slope of the AC114-MZR, can be explained by strong metal-poor
inflows triggered by galaxy-galaxy interactions. In fact, the
downshift reported for these galaxies is consistent with other
observations and simulations, as a result of mergers and/or flybys,
which dilute the gas-phase metallicities from metal-poor inflows. The
mass of a galaxy cluster appears to be a key variable in determining
the importance of environmental effects in the evolution of cluster
members, where massive galaxy clusters (Mvir>1015M☉) show
changes in the slope of the MZR.
Description:
In this work, we use the same spectroscopic data as Proust et
149 al. (2015MNRAS.452.3304P 2015MNRAS.452.3304P, Cat. J/MNRAS/452/3304) and Saviane et
al. (2023MNRAS.526.2458S 2023MNRAS.526.2458S).
Our sample consists of 184 spectra of galaxies, where 25 (13%) are not
reported in earlier works with the same data, because in this paper
the observations were reduced with the latest version (4.1.8) of the
VIMOS pipeline.
The sample is listed in Table A.2, with galaxies labeled according to
the quadrant and slit of extraction.
Table A.3 presents absolute magnitudes in the optical band used in
this work, together with the respective mass estimations.
Oxygen abundances of the sample of galaxies are shown in Table A.4.
Objects:
-----------------------------------------------
RA (2000) DE Designation(s)
-----------------------------------------------
22 58 52.33 -34 46 54.5 AC 114 = ACCG 114
-----------------------------------------------
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe 80 . This file
tablea2.dat 70 184 Compilation of photometric data collected from
DECaLS DR10 and VIKING DR4
tablea3.dat 59 184 Optical and NIR-bases stellar mass estimations
tablea4.dat 15 79 Oxygen abundances of the SF galaxies with
available emission line measurements
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See also:
J/MNRAS/452/3304 : AC114 galaxy cluster dynamical analysis (Proust+, 2015)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea2.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 5 A5 --- Name Galaxy ID
7- 13 F7.3 deg RAdeg Right ascension (J2000)
15- 21 F7.3 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
23- 30 F8.6 --- z Estimated redshift (1)
32- 39 F8.6 --- e_z Estimated redshift error
41- 44 F4.1 mag iMAG ? SDSS-i absolute magnitude on the Vega system
46- 48 F3.1 mag e_iMAG ? SDSS-i absolute magnitude on the Vega system
error
50- 53 F4.1 mag gMAG ? SDSS-g absolute magnitude on the Vega system
55- 57 F3.1 mag e_gMAG ? SDSS-g absolute magnitude on the Vega system
error
59- 63 F5.2 mag KsMAG ? Ks absolute magnitude on the Vega system
65- 68 F4.2 mag e_KsMAG ? Ks absolute magnitude on the Vega system error
70 A1 --- Flag [0/1] Active flag
(0 = passive galaxy, 1 = emission line galaxy)
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Note (1): The galaxies' redshift, z, was measured by cross-correlation
(Tonry & Davis, 1979AJ.....84.1511T 1979AJ.....84.1511T) between the VIMOS spectra and synthetic
ones at z=0 in the wavelength range from 3700Å to 8800Å.
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea3.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 5 A5 --- Name Galaxy ID
7- 11 F5.1 mag iMAG Absolute SDSS-i magnitude (Vega system)
13- 15 F3.1 mag e_iMAG Absolute SDSS-i magnitude (Vega system) error
17- 21 F5.1 mag gMAG Absolute SDSS-g magnitude (Vega system)
23- 25 F3.1 mag e_gMAG Absolute SDSS-g magnitude (Vega system) error
27- 32 F6.2 mag KsMAG ? Absolute Ks magnitude (Vega system)
34- 37 F4.2 mag e_KsMAG ? Absolute Ks magnitude (Vega system) error
39- 42 F4.1 [Msun] logMassi log mass based on SDSS-i photometry
44- 46 F3.1 [Msun] e_logMassi log mass based on SDSS-i photometry error
48- 52 F5.2 [Msun] logMassKs ? log mass based on Ks photometry
54- 57 F4.2 [Msun] e_logMassKs ? log mass based on Ks photometry error
59 I1 --- Flag [0/1] Active flag (0 = passive galaxy,
1 = emission line galaxy)
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea4.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 5 A5 --- Name Galaxy ID
7- 10 F4.2 --- Abund ?=0 12+log(O/H)O3N2 oxygen abundance in dex
based on the O3N2 empirical method
12- 15 F4.2 --- e_Abund ?=0 12+log(O/H)O3N2 oxygen abundance in dex
based on the O3N2 empirical method error
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Acknowledgements:
Alain Andrade, alain.andrade(at)live.com
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 21-May-2024