The DEEP Groth Strip Survey XII: The Metallicity of Field Galaxies at 0.26<z<0.82 and the Evolution of the Luminosity-Metallicity Relation

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dc.creatorKobulnicky, Henry A.
dc.creatorWillmer, Christopher N. A.
dc.creatorWeiner, Benjamin J.
dc.creatorKoo, David C.
dc.creatorPhillips, Andrew C.
dc.creatorFaber, S. M.
dc.creatorSarajedini, Vicki L.
dc.creatorSimard, Luc
dc.creatorVogt, Nicole P.
dc.date2003-05-01
dc.date2003-05-01
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:08:23Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:08:23Z
dc.descriptionUsing spectroscopic data from the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe (DEEP) Groth Strip survey (DGSS), we analyze the gas-phase oxygen abundances for 56 emission-line field galaxies in the redshift range 0.26<z<0.82. Oxygen abundances relative to hydrogen range between 8.4<12+log(O/H)<9.0 with typical uncertainties of 0.17 dex. The 56 DGSS galaxies collectively exhibit a correlation between B-band luminosity and metallicity, i.e., an L-Z relation. Subsets of DGSS galaxies binned by redshift also exhibit L-Z correlations but with different zero points. Galaxies in the highest redshift bin (z=0.6-0.82) are brighter by ~1 mag compared to the lowest redshift bin (z=0.26-0.40) and brighter by ~1-2 mag compared to local (z<0.1) field galaxies. This offset from the local L-Z relation is greatest for objects at the low-luminosity (M_B ~ -19) end of the sample, and vanishingly small for objects at the high-luminosity end of the sample (M_B ~ -22). Thus, both the slope and zero point of the L-Z relation appear to evolve. Either the least-luminous DGSS field galaxies have faded by 1--2 mag due to decreasing levels of star formation, or they have experienced an increase in the mean metallicity of the interstellar medium by factors of 1.3--2 (0.1-0.3 dex). The relatively greater degree of luminosity and metallicity evolution seen among the lower luminosity (sub L*) galaxies in the last 8 Gyr implies either a more protracted assembly process, or a more recent formation epoch compared to more luminous L* galaxies. (abridged)
dc.descriptionSubmitted to ApJ, comments welcome; 43 pages, 14 figures Version with full figures available at http://physics.uwyo.edu/~chip/Pubs/Groth
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0305024
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0305024
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/6026
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleThe DEEP Groth Strip Survey XII: The Metallicity of Field Galaxies at 0.26<z<0.82 and the Evolution of the Luminosity-Metallicity Relation
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