Bibcode
Sánchez Almeida, J.; Morales-Luis, A. B.; Muñoz-Tuñón, C.; Elmegreen, D. M.; Elmegreen, B. G.; Méndez-Abreu, J.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 783, Issue 1, article id. 45, 9 pp. (2014).
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3
2014
Journal
Citations
72
Refereed citations
64
Description
We measure the oxygen metallicity of the ionized gas along the major
axis of seven dwarf star-forming galaxies. Two of them, SDSSJ1647+21 and
SDSSJ2238+14, show sime0.5 dex metallicity decrements in inner regions
with enhanced star formation activity. This behavior is similar to the
metallicity drop observed in a number of local tadpole galaxies by
Sánchez Almeida et al., and was interpreted as showing early
stages of assembling in disk galaxies, with the star formation sustained
by external metal-poor gas accretion. The agreement with tadpoles has
several implications. (1) It proves that galaxies other than the local
tadpoles present the same unusual metallicity pattern. (2) Our
metallicity inhomogeneities were inferred using the direct method, thus
discarding systematic errors usually attributed to other methods. (3)
Taken together with the tadpole data, our findings suggest a threshold
around one-tenth the solar value for the metallicity drops to show up.
Although galaxies with clear metallicity drops are rare, the physical
mechanism responsible for them may sustain a significant part of the
star formation activity in the local universe. We argue that the star
formation dependence of the mass-metallicity relationship, as well as
other general properties followed by most local disk galaxies, is
naturally interpreted as side effects of pristine gas infall.
Alternatives to the metal-poor gas accretion are examined as well.
Related projects
Starbursts in Galaxies GEFE
Starsbursts play a key role in the cosmic evolution of galaxies, and thus in the star formation (SF) history of the universe, the production of metals, and the feedback coupling galaxies with the cosmic web. Extreme SF conditions prevail early on during the formation of the first stars and galaxies, therefore, the starburst phenomenon constitutes a
Casiana
Muñoz Tuñón