Metallicity scaling relations of galaxies in cosmological simulations

THEUNS, TOM; BOWER, RICHARD G.; FONT, ANDREEA S.; SCHAYE, JOOP; DE ROSSI, MARÍA EMILIA

Encuentro; 8th FRIENDS OF FRIENDS MEETING; 2018

The study of the metallicity evolutionof galaxies and its relation with other global properties of these systems, such as total stellar mass orgas fraction, might provide important constraints on galaxy formationmodels. In particular, over the last decades, different researchprojects have focused on the analysis of the mass-metallicityrelation (MZR) and its evolution with redshift. In this work, weanalyse metallicity scaling relations of galaxies since redshift z=3by using the EAGLE (Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and theirEnvironments) simulations. We investigate the evolution and scatterof the simulated MZR. We explore also possible dependences of thisrelation on secondary parameters. According to our results, theslope of the simulated MZR is mostly determined by stellar feedbackat low stellar masses, and at high masses by the feedback from activegalactic nuclei. In agreement with previous findings, thefundamental parameter that best correlates with the metal content, inthe simulations, is the gas fraction (De Rossi et al. 2017).