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| Paper: |
Masses, Metallicities, and Gas Flows in Galaxies at High Redshift |
| Volume: |
399, Panoramic Views of Galaxy Formation and Evolution |
| Page: |
239 |
| Authors: |
Erb, D. |
| Abstract: |
The comparison of stellar and dynamical masses of star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2 suggests that a small but significant fraction are young and highly gas-rich. This scenario is supported by gas masses and gas fractions determined from the empirical correlation between star formation rate surface density and gas surface density (the Kennicutt-Schmidt or K-S law). The K-S law can also be used to show that, without the accretion of significant additional gas, these galaxies cannot support the extended star formation histories that are observed. Using metallicity measurements and simple models of chemical evolution in combination with these constraints on gas accretion required by the K-S law, we obtain further constraints on the gas outflow rate, and find that z ∼ 2 galaxies are best described by an outflow rate approximately equal to the star formation rate, and a gas accretion rate of approximately the combined outflow and star formation rates. |
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