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The mass-metallicity relation of interacting galaxies

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, ISSN: 1745-3933, Vol: 386, Issue: 1, Page: L82-L86
2008
  • 83
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 18
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
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Metrics Details

  • Citations
    83
    • Citation Indexes
      83
  • Captures
    18

Letter Description

We study the mass-metallicity relation of galaxies in pairs and in isolation taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-Data Release 4 (SDSS-DR4) using the stellar masses and oxygen abundances derived by Tremonti et al. Close galaxy pairs, defined by projected separation r < 25 kpc h and radial velocity ΔV < 350 km s, are morphologically classified according to the strength of the interaction signs. We find that only for pairs showing signs of strong interactions, the mass-metallicity relation differs significantly from that of galaxies in isolation. In such pairs, the mean gas-phase oxygen abundances of galaxies with low stellar masses (M ≲ 10 M h) exhibit an excess of 0.2 dex. Conversely, at larger masses (M ≳ 10 M h) galaxies have a systematically lower metallicity, although with a smaller difference (-0.05 dex). Similar trends are obtained if g-band magnitudes are used instead of stellar masses. In minor interactions, we find that the less massive member is systematically enriched, while a galaxy in interaction with a comparable stellar mass companion shows a metallicity decrement with respect to galaxies in isolation. We argue that metal-rich starbursts triggered by a more massive component, and inflows of low-metallicity gas induced by comparable or less massive companion galaxies, provide a natural scenario to explain our findings. © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 RAS.

Bibliographic Details

Leo Michel-Dansac; Diego G. Lambas; M. Sol Alonso; Patricia Tissera

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Physics and Astronomy; Earth and Planetary Sciences

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