Evolution of the Stellar Mass–Metallicity Relation. II. Constraints on Galactic Outflows from the Mg Abundances of Quiescent Galaxies

Abstract

We present the stellar mass–[Fe/H] and mass–[Mg/H] relation of quiescent galaxies in two galaxy clusters at z ~ 0.39 and z ~ 0.54. We derive the age, [Fe/H], and [Mg/Fe] for each individual galaxy using a full-spectrum fitting technique. By comparing with the relations for z ~ 0 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies, we confirm our previous finding that the mass–[Fe/H] relation evolves with redshift. The mass–[Fe/H] relation at higher redshift has lower normalization and possibly steeper slope. However, based on our sample, the mass–[Mg/H] relation does not evolve over the observed redshift range. We use a simple analytic chemical evolution model to constrain the average outflow that these galaxies experience over their lifetime, via the calculation of mass-loading factor. We find that the average mass-loading factor η is a power-law function of galaxy stellar mass, η ∝ M*^(−0.21±0.09). The measured mass-loading factors are consistent with the results of other observational methods for outflow measurements and with the predictions where outflow is caused by star formation feedback in turbulent disks.

Files

Additional details