TY - JOUR

T1 - CLEAR

T2 - The Gas-phase Metallicity Gradients of Star-forming Galaxies at 0.6 < z < 2.6

AU - Simons, Raymond C.

AU - Papovich, Casey

AU - Momcheva, Ivelina

AU - Trump, Jonathan R.

AU - Brammer, Gabriel

AU - Estrada-Carpenter, Vicente

AU - Backhaus, Bren E.

AU - Cleri, Nikko J.

AU - Finkelstein, Steven L.

AU - Giavalisco, Mauro

AU - Ji, Zhiyuan

AU - Jung, Intae

AU - Matharu, Jasleen

AU - Weiner, Benjamin

PY - 2021/12/22

Y1 - 2021/12/22

N2 - We report on the gas-phase metallicity gradients of a sample of 238 star-forming galaxies at 0.6 < z < 2.6, measured through deep near-infrared Hubble Space Telescope slitless spectroscopy. The observations include 12 orbit depth Hubble/WFC3 G102 grism spectra taken as a part of the CANDELS Ly alpha Emission at Reionization (CLEAR) survey, and archival WFC3 G102+G141 grism spectra overlapping the CLEAR footprint. The majority of galaxies in this sample are consistent with having a zero or slightly positive metallicity gradient (dZ/dR >= 0, i.e., increasing with radius) across the full mass range probed (8.5 < log M (*)/M (circle dot) < 10.5). We measure the intrinsic population scatter of the metallicity gradients, and show that it increases with decreasing stellar mass-consistent with previous reports in the literature, but confirmed here with a much larger sample. To understand the physical mechanisms governing this scatter, we search for correlations between the observed gradient and various stellar population properties at fixed mass. However, we find no evidence for a correlation with the galaxy properties we consider-including star formation rates, sizes, star formation rate surface densities, and star formation rates per gravitational potential energy. We use the observed weakness of these correlations to provide material constraints for predicted intrinsic correlations from theoretical models.

AB - We report on the gas-phase metallicity gradients of a sample of 238 star-forming galaxies at 0.6 < z < 2.6, measured through deep near-infrared Hubble Space Telescope slitless spectroscopy. The observations include 12 orbit depth Hubble/WFC3 G102 grism spectra taken as a part of the CANDELS Ly alpha Emission at Reionization (CLEAR) survey, and archival WFC3 G102+G141 grism spectra overlapping the CLEAR footprint. The majority of galaxies in this sample are consistent with having a zero or slightly positive metallicity gradient (dZ/dR >= 0, i.e., increasing with radius) across the full mass range probed (8.5 < log M (*)/M (circle dot) < 10.5). We measure the intrinsic population scatter of the metallicity gradients, and show that it increases with decreasing stellar mass-consistent with previous reports in the literature, but confirmed here with a much larger sample. To understand the physical mechanisms governing this scatter, we search for correlations between the observed gradient and various stellar population properties at fixed mass. However, we find no evidence for a correlation with the galaxy properties we consider-including star formation rates, sizes, star formation rate surface densities, and star formation rates per gravitational potential energy. We use the observed weakness of these correlations to provide material constraints for predicted intrinsic correlations from theoretical models.

KW - ABUNDANCE GRADIENTS

KW - CHEMICAL EVOLUTION

KW - ANGULAR-MOMENTUM

KW - MASS

KW - STELLAR

KW - ACCRETION

KW - DYNAMICS

KW - HIZELS

KW - MODELS

KW - ORIGIN

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ac28f4

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ac28f4

M3 - Journal article

VL - 923

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

SN - 0004-637X

IS - 2

M1 - 203

ER -