Abstract
We present star formation rates (SFRs), the mass-metallicity relation (MZR), and the SFR-dependent MZR across redshifts 4-10 using 81 star-forming galaxies observed by the JWST NIRSpec employing both low-resolution PRISM and medium-resolution gratings, including galaxies from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) GOODS-N and GOODS-S fields, the JWST-PRIMAL Legacy Survey, and additional galaxies from the literature in the A2744, SMACS-0723, RXJ2129, BDF, COSMOS, and MACS1149 fields. These galaxies span a 3 dex stellar mass range of 107 < M */M ⊙ < 1010, with an average SFR of 7.2 ± 1.2M ⊙ yr−1 and an average metallicity of 12 + log ( O / H ) = 7.91 ± 0.08 . Our findings align with previous observations up to z = 8 for the MZR and indicate no deviation from the local Universe fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) up to this redshift. Beyond z = 8, we observe a significant deviation (∼0.27 dex) in FMR, consistent with recent JWST findings. We also integrate Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (135 galaxies) and JADES (47 galaxies) samples with our data to study the metallicity evolution with redshift in a combined sample of 263 galaxies, revealing a decreasing metallicity trend with a slope of 0.067 ± 0.013, consistent with IllustrisTNG and EAGLE but contradicting the FIRE simulations. We introduce an empirical mass-metallicity-redshift relation: 12 + log ( O / H ) = 6.29 + 0.237 × log ( M * / M ⊙ ) − 0.06 × ( 1 + z ) , which accurately reproduces the observed trends in metallicity with both redshift and stellar mass. This trend underscores the “Grand Challenge” in understanding the factors driving high-redshift galactic metallicity trends, such as inflow, outflow, and active galactic nucleus/stellar feedback—and emphasizes the need for further investigations with larger samples and enhanced simulations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 136 |
| Journal | Astrophysical Journal |
| Volume | 978 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Funding
We sincerely thank the anonymous referee for the insightful comments and suggestions. A.S acknowledges support from NASA via subaward SV2-82023 from the Chandra X-ray Center and via subaward S001534-NASA from the Pennsylvania State University. The authors also acknowledge the MIT SuperCloud and Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center for providing (HPC, database, and consultation) resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper. P.T. and A.M.G. acknowledge support from NSF-AST 2346977. This work is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-03127 for JWST. The JADES data products presented herein were retrieved from the Data Release 3 archive: https://jades-survey.github.io/scientists/data.html. The PRIMAL Survey data products presented herein were retrieved from the DAWN JWST Archive (DJA). DJA is an initiative of the Cosmic Dawn Center, which is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation under grant DNRF140.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| The Pennsylvania State University | |
| Epsilon Sigma Alpha | |
| The Chandra X-Ray Center | |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | SV2-82023 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | |
| NSF/AST | 2346977 |
| Central Surgical Association | NAS 5-03127 |
| Central Surgical Association | |
| Danmarks Grundforskningsfond | DNRF140 |
| Danmarks Grundforskningsfond |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science