Dwarf galaxies show little ISM evolution from $z\sim1$ to $z\sim0$: a spectroscopic study of metallicity, star formation, and electron density

Abstract

We present gas-phase metallicity measurements for 583 emission line galaxies at $0.3<z<0.85$, including 388 dwarf galaxies with $log(M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) < 9.5$, and explore the dependence of the metallicity on the stellar mass and star formation properties of the galaxies. Metallicities are determined through the measurement of emission lines in very deep ($\sim$7 hr exposure) Keck/DEIMOS spectra taken primarily from the HALO7D survey. We measure metallicity with three strong-line calibrations (O3H$\beta$, R23, and O3O2) for the overall sample, as well as with the faint [Ne III]$\lambda$3869 and [O III]$\lambda$4363 emission lines for 112 and 17 galaxies where robust detections were possible. We construct mass-metallicity relations (MZR) for each calibration method, finding MZRs consistent with other strong-line results at comparable redshift, as well as with $z\sim0$ galaxies. We quantify the intrinsic scatter in the MZR as a function of mass, finding it increases with lower stellar mass. We also measure a weak but significant correlation between increased MZR scatter and higher specific star formation rate. We find a weak influence of SFR in the fundamental metallicity relation as well, with an SFR coefficient of $\alpha=0.21$. Finally, we use the flux ratios of the [O II]$\lambda\lambda$3727,3729 doublet to calculate gas electron density in $\sim$1000 galaxies with $log(M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) < 10.5$ as a function of redshift. We measure low electron densities ($n_e\sim25$ cm$^{-3}$) for $z<1$ galaxies, again consistent with $z\approx0$ conditions, but measure higher densities ($n_e\sim100$ cm$^{-3}$) at $z>1$. These results all suggest that there is little evolution in star-forming interstellar medium conditions from $z\sim1$ to $z=0$, confirmed with a more complete sample of low-mass galaxies than has previously been available in this redshift range.