Clues to the Origin of the Mass-Metallicity Relation: Dependence on Star Formation Rate and Galaxy Size
Abstract
We use a sample of 43,690 galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 to study the systematic effects of specific star formation rate (SSFR) and galaxy size (as measured by the half light radius, rh) on the mass-metallicity relation. We find that galaxies with high SSFR or large rh for their stellar mass have systematically lower gas phase-metallicities (by up to 0.2 dex) than galaxies with low SSFR or small rh. We discuss possible origins for these dependencies, including galactic winds/outflows, abundance gradients, environment and star formation rate efficiencies.
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