MSA-3D: Metallicity Gradients in Galaxies at z ∼ 1 with JWST/NIRSpec Slit-stepping Spectroscopy

Abstract The radial gradient of gas-phase metallicity is a powerful probe of the chemical and structural evolution of star-forming galaxies, closely tied to disk formation and gas kinematics in the early Universe. We present spatially resolved chemical and dynamical properties for a sample of 25 galaxies at 0.5 ≲ z ≲ 1.7 from the MSA-3D survey. These innovative observations provide 3D spectroscopy of galaxies at a spatial resolution approaching JWST’s diffraction limit and a high spectral resolution of R ≃ 2700. The metallicity gradients measured in our galaxy sample range from −0.03 to 0.02 dex kpc −1 . Most galaxies exhibit negative or flat radial gradients, indicating lower metallicity in the outskirts or uniform metallicity throughout the entire galaxy. We confirm a tight relationship between stellar mass and metallicity gradient at z ∼ 1 with small intrinsic scatter of 0.02 dex kpc −1 . Our results indicate that metallicity gradients become increasingly negative as stellar mass increases, likely because the more massive galaxies tend to be more “disky.” This relationship is consistent with the predictions from cosmological hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations with strong stellar feedback. This work presents the effort to harness the multiplexing capability of the JWST NIRSpec microshutter assembly in slit-stepping mode to map the chemical and kinematic profiles of high-redshift galaxies in large samples and at high spatial and spectral resolution.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Published
2025-01-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada150
Citations
11
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
12.70

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article

MSA-3D: Metallicity Gradients in Galaxies at z ∼ 1 with JWST/NIRSpec Slit-stepping Spectroscopy

Mengting Ju, Karl Glazebrook, Shuai Feng, Tommaso Treu et al.
11 citations
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
12.70
article

MSA-3D: Metallicity Gradients in Galaxies at z ∼ 1 with JWST/NIRSpec Slit-stepping Spectroscopy

Mengting Ju, Karl Glazebrook, Shuai Feng, Tommaso Treu, Themiya Nanayakkara, Matthew A. Malkan, Kevin Bundy, Xin Wang, Ivana Barišić, Claude‐André Faucher‐Giguère, Namrata Roy, Danail Obreschkow, Alaina Henry, Tucker Jones, Ryan L. Sanders, Qianqiao Zhou, Xunda Sun
article en
11 citations

Abstract

Abstract The radial gradient of gas-phase metallicity is a powerful probe of the chemical and structural evolution of star-forming galaxies, closely tied to disk formation and gas kinematics in the early Universe. We present spatially resolved chemical and dynamical properties for a sample of 25 galaxies at 0.5 ≲ z ≲ 1.7 from the MSA-3D survey. These innovative observations provide 3D spectroscopy of galaxies at a spatial resolution approaching JWST’s diffraction limit and a high spectral resolution of R ≃ 2700. The metallicity gradients measured in our galaxy sample range from −0.03 to 0.02 dex kpc −1 . Most galaxies exhibit negative or flat radial gradients, indicating lower metallicity in the outskirts or uniform metallicity throughout the entire galaxy. We confirm a tight relationship between stellar mass and metallicity gradient at z ∼ 1 with small intrinsic scatter of 0.02 dex kpc −1 . Our results indicate that metallicity gradients become increasingly negative as stellar mass increases, likely because the more massive galaxies tend to be more “disky.” This relationship is consistent with the predictions from cosmological hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations with strong stellar feedback. This work presents the effort to harness the multiplexing capability of the JWST NIRSpec microshutter assembly in slit-stepping mode to map the chemical and kinematic profiles of high-redshift galaxies in large samples and at high spatial and spectral resolution.

The Astrophysical Journal LettersVol. 978(2)
Hebei Medical University (CN), Northwestern University (US), Space Telescope Science Institute (US), Australian Research Council (AU), University of Kentucky (US), Johns Hopkins University (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), The University of Western Australia (AU), University of California, Santa Cruz (US), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Beijing Normal University (CN), ASTRO-3D (AU), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (FR), ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (AU), International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (AU), National Astronomical Observatories (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Swinburne University of Technology (AU), University of California, Davis (US), Hebei Normal University (CN)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Space Telescope Science Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
12.70
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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