The impact of supernova feedback on the mass–metallicity relations

Abstract

ABSTRACT Metallicity is a fundamental physical property that strongly constrains galaxy formation and evolution. The formation of stars in galaxies is suppressed by the energy released from supernova explosions and can be enhanced by metal production. In order to understand the impact of this supernova feedback, we compare four different feedback methods, ejecting energy in thermal, kinetic, stochastic, and mechanical forms, into our self-consistent cosmological chemodynamical simulations. To minimize other uncertainties, we use the latest nucleosynthesis yields that can reproduce the observed elemental abundances of stars in the Milky Way. For each method, we predict the evolution of stellar and gas-phase metallicities as a function of galaxy mass, i.e. the mass–metallicity relations. We then find that the mechanical feedback can give the best match to a number of observations up to redshift z ∼ 3, although the predicted gas-phase metallicities seem to be higher than those observed at z ≳ 1. The feedback modelling can be further constrained by the metallicities in distant galaxies with the JWST and those of a large sample with ongoing and future spectroscopic surveys.