The Subaru FMOS Galaxy Redshift Survey (FastSound). III. The mass-metallicity relation and the fundamental metallicity relation at \(z\sim1.4\)

Abstract

We present the results from a large near-infrared spectroscopic survey with Subaru/FMOS (\textit{FastSound}) consisting of \(\sim\) 4,000 galaxies at \(z\sim1.4\) with significant H\(\alpha\) detection. We measure the gas-phase metallicity from the [N~{\sc ii}]\(\lambda\)6583/H\(\alpha\) emission line ratio of the composite spectra in various stellar mass and star-formation rate bins. The resulting mass-metallicity relation generally agrees with previous studies obtained in a similar redshift range to that of our sample. No clear dependence of the mass-metallicity relation with star-formation rate is found. Our result at \(z\sim1.4\) is roughly in agreement with the fundamental metallicity relation at \(z\sim0.1\) with fiber aperture corrected star-formation rate. We detect significant [S~{\sc ii}]\(\lambda\lambda\)6716,6731 emission lines from the composite spectra. The electron density estimated from the [S~{\sc ii}]\(\lambda\lambda\)6716,6731 line ratio ranges from 10 -- 500 cm\(^{-3}\), which generally agrees with that of local galaxies. On the other hand, the distribution of our sample on [N~{\sc ii}]\(\lambda\)6583/H\(\alpha\) vs. [S~{\sc ii}]\(\lambda\lambda\)6716,6731/H\(\alpha\) is different from that found locally. We estimate the nitrogen-to-oxygen abundance ratio (N/O) from the N2S2 index, and find that the N/O in galaxies at \(z\sim1.4\) is significantly higher than the local values at a fixed metallicity and stellar mass. The metallicity at \(z\sim1.4\) recalculated with this N/O enhancement taken into account decreases by 0.1 -- 0.2 dex. The resulting metallicity is lower than the local fundamental metallicity relation.