Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2012-03-23
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
Submitted to MNRAS, 15 pages, 10 figures
Scientific paper
We examine how the atomic and molecular gas components of galaxies evolve to higher redshifts using the semi-analytic galaxy formation models of Fu et al. (2010) in which we track the surface density profiles of gas in disks. We adopt two different prescriptions based either on gas surface density and metallicity, or on interstellar pressure, to compute the molecular fraction as a function of radius in each disk. We demonstrate that the adopted star formation law determines how the balance between gas, stars and metals changes with time in the star-forming galaxy population, but does not influence the total mass in stars formed into galaxies at redshifts below z~2.5. The redshift evolution of the mass-metallicity relation places strong constraints on the timescale over which cold gas is converted into stars in high redshift galaxies, and favours models in which the star formation surface density scales with the cold gas surface density in the same way at all cosmic epochs. Future observations of the evolution of the average molecular-to-atomic gas ratio in galaxies as a function of stellar mass and redshift will constrain models of the atomic-to-molecular transition.
Fu Jian
Guo Qi
Kauffmann Guinevere
Li Cheng
No associations
LandOfFree
The Effect of Star Formation on the Redshift Evolution of Interstellar Metals, Atomic and Molecular Gas in Galaxies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Effect of Star Formation on the Redshift Evolution of Interstellar Metals, Atomic and Molecular Gas in Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Effect of Star Formation on the Redshift Evolution of Interstellar Metals, Atomic and Molecular Gas in Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-472859