http://arxiv.org/abs/2112.04113
Aims: Interacting galaxies show a metallicity dilution compared to similar-mass isolated galaxies in the mass-metallicity space at the global scale. We investigate the spatially resolved mass-metallicity relation (MZR) of galaxy pairs in the SDSS-MaNGA survey to confirm that the local relation between stellar mass surface density and metallicity is consistent with the MZR at the global scale. Methods: We investigate the relationship between the stellar mass surface density and the metallicity abundance 12 + log (O/H) for star-forming spaxels belonging to 297 galaxy pairs identified using visual and kinematic indicators in the SDSS-MaNGA survey. We also investigated if a) location of spaxel relative to galaxy center and b) galaxy pair separation have any effect on the local mass-metallicity relation. Results: We find that the correlation between mass and metallicity holds for interacting galaxies at the local level. However, we find two peaks in spaxel distribution, one peak with enriched metallicity, and the other with diluted metallicity. We find that the spaxels belonging to the galaxy central regions, i.e. at lower R/Reff, are concentrated close to the two peaks. We also find that the metallicity enriched spaxels belong to galaxy pairs with closer projected separation, and spaxels with diluted metallicity belong to galaxy pairs with greater projected separation. Conclusions: We find two discrete peaks in the spatially resolved mass-metallicity relation for star-forming spaxels belonging to galaxy pairs. The peaks are likely related to the galaxy projected separation, or the stage of the interaction process in a galaxy pair.
K. Omori and T. Takeuchi
Thu, 9 Dec 21
17/63
Comments: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to A&A (under review)
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