On the cause of metallicity gradients in spiral galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Metallicity, Spiral Galaxies, Star Formation, Abundance, Astronomical Models, Chemical Evolution, Gravitational Effects, Interstellar Gas

Scientific paper

Particular models for the chemical evolution of galactic disks are investigated in an attempt to account for the observed behavior of metallicity with surface density, and hence explain abundance gradients. The models include simple Schmidt star formation rate laws, models in which the formation of massive stars is suppressed below a threshold interstellar gas density, and models with self-regulation of star formation. Except for the ones with self-regulating star formation, these models are not particularly successful unless rather extreme parameter choices are made. The failure is, perhaps suprisingly, worse for gravitational instability thresholds than for some more arbitrary density thresholds. It is suggested that the modulation of star formation rate by additional terms dependent, explicitly or implicitly, on radius may be required to generate the observed gradients.

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