Chemical Abundances in Star-Forming Galaxies at High Redshift
Abstract
A galaxy's metallicity provides a record of star formation, gas accretion, and gas outflow, and is therefore one of the most informative measurements that can be made at high redshift. It is also one of the most difficult. I review methods of determining chemical abundances in distant star-forming galaxies, and summarize results for galaxies at 1 ≲ z ≲ 3. I then focus on the mass-metallicity relation, its evolution with redshift, and its uses in constraining inflows and outflows of gas, and conclude with a brief discussion of future prospects for metallicity measurements at high redshift.
- Publication:
-
Chemical Abundances in the Universe: Connecting First Stars to Planets
- Pub Date:
- March 2010
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921310000438
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0912.0313
- Bibcode:
- 2010IAUS..265..147E
- Keywords:
-
- High redshift galaxies;
- chemical abundances;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- Invited review to appear in "Chemical Abundances in the Universe: Connecting First Stars to Planets", Proceedings of IAU Symposium 265, Rio de Janeiro 2009, K. Cunha, M. Spite, B. Barbuy, eds