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Velocity-Metallicity Correlation for high-z DLA Galaxies: Evidence for a Mass-Metallicity Relation?

C. Ledoux·P. Petitjean·J. P. U. Fynbo·P. Moller·R. Srianand
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Abstract

We used our database of VLT-UVES quasar spectra to build up a sample of 70 Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) or strong sub-DLA systems with total neutral hydrogen column densities of log N(HI)>20 and redshifts in the range 1.7 2.43) and the lower (z_abs<2.43) redshift halves of our sample. However, the two populations of systems are statistically different. There is a strong redshift evolution in the sense that the mean metallicity and mean velocity width increase with decreasing redshift. We argue that the existence of a DLA velocity-metallicity correlation, over more than a factor of 100 spread in metallicity, is probably the consequence of an underlying mass-metallicity relation for the galaxies responsible for DLA absorption lines. Assuming a simple linear scaling of the galaxy luminosity with the mass of the dark-matter halo, we find that the slope of the DLA velocity-metallicity relation is consistent with that of the luminosity-metallicity relation derived for local galaxies. [...] abridged.

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C. Ledoux, P. Petitjean, J. P. U. Fynbo, P. Moller, R. Srianand. 2006-06-08. Velocity-Metallicity Correlation for high-z DLA Galaxies: Evidence for a Mass-Metallicity Relation?. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%3A20054242

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