Comparing metallicity correlations in nearby non-AGN and AGN-host galaxies

Li, Song-Lin; Li, Zefeng; Wisnioski, Emily; Krumholz, Mark R; Sánchez, Sebastián F

Abstract

The gas-phase metallicity distribution within galaxies records critical information about galactic evolution. In this work, we investigate how active galactic nuclei (AGNs) influence this distribution by measuring the two-point correlation functions of gas-phase metallicity in 95 non AGN and 37 AGN-host galaxies from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field spectroscopy Area integral field spectrographic survey. We measure metallicity using a novel Bayesian method that properly includes both stellar and AGN contributions to emission line fluxes and allows us to measure metallicities in both AGN-host and non-AGN galaxies in a single, consistent framework. We find that the two-point correlation functions of both AGN-host and non-AGN galaxies are well fit by a simple injection-diffusion model, and that the correlation lengths lcorr we derive for the non-AGN galaxies are reasonably consistent with those obtained in earlier work. The AGN-host galaxies generally have smaller lcorr than non-AGN galaxies at fixed stellar mass, but similar lcorr at fixed star formation rate (SFR), suggesting that the primary effect of hosting an AGN in this sample is a reduction in SFR at fixed stellar mass, and that this in turn suppresses the correlation length. Our findings further indicate that, while both SFR and stellar mass are positively correlated with metallicity correlation length lcorr, the former is more fundamental, implying that fluctuations in the metallicity distribution within galaxies are driven more by short-term responses to physical processes such as star formation that can change much faster than a Hubble time.

Citation

Li, S.-L., Li, Z., Wisnioski, E., Krumholz, M. R., & Sánchez, S. F. (2025). Comparing metallicity correlations in nearby non-AGN and AGN-host galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536(1), 430-445. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2603

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 19, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Nov 25, 2024
• Publication Date: 2025-01
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 20, 2025
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2966
• Publisher: Royal Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 536
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 430-445
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2603
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3342777