On the origin of the luminosity - metallicity relation for late-type galaxies: Spirals to irregulars transition

Abstract

We consider the roles of two widely invoked mechanisms for the metallicity-luminosity correlation among late-type galaxies: higher astration level and decreasing efficiency of heavy-element loss with increasing luminosity. We find that both mechanisms contribute about equally to the range in oxygen abundance between low (logL_B = 8) and high (logL_B = 10.5) luminosity galaxies. We also consider the transition from spirals to irregulars, finding that both the oxygen abundance deficiency (indicating the degree of mass exchange between a galaxy and its environment) and the gas fraction vary smoothly along the sequence. Thus we find no "irregular versus spiral dichotomy".

5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics