The VANDELS survey: the stellar metallicities of star-forming galaxies at 2.5<z<5.0

We present the results of a study utilizing ultradeep, rest-frame UV, spectroscopy to quantify the relationship between stellar mass and stellar metallicity for 681 star-forming galaxies at 2.5 < z < 5.0 (⟨z⟩ = 3.5 ± 0.6) drawn from the VANDELS survey. Via a comparison with high-resolution stellar population synthesis models, we determine stellar metallicities (Z_∗, here a proxy for the iron abundance) for a set of high signal-to-noise ratio composite spectra formed from subsamples selected by mass and redshift. Across the stellar mass range 8.5<log(⟨M_∗⟩/M_⊙)<10.2⁠, we find a strong correlation between stellar metallicity (Z_∗/Z_⊙) and stellar mass, with stellar metallicity monotonically increasing from Z_∗/Z_⊙ < 0.09 at ⟨M_∗⟩=3.2×10⁸M_⊙ to Z_∗/Z⊙ = 0.27 at ⟨M_∗⟩=1.7×10¹⁰M_⊙⁠. In contrast, at a given stellar mass, we find no evidence for significant metallicity evolution across the redshift range of our sample. However, comparing our results to the z = 0 stellar mass–metallicity relation for star-forming galaxies, we find that the ⟨z⟩ = 3.5 relation is consistent with being shifted to lower metallicities by ≃0.6 dex at all stellar masses. Contrasting our derived stellar metallicities with estimates of the gas-phase metallicities of galaxies at similar redshifts and stellar masses, we find evidence for enhanced O/Fe ratios in z ≳ 2.5 star-forming galaxies of the order (O/Fe) ≳ 1.8 × (O/Fe)_⊙. Finally, by comparing our results to the predictions of three cosmological simulations, we find that the ⟨z⟩ = 3.5 stellar mass–metallicity relation is consistent with current predictions for how outflow strength scales with galaxy stellar mass. This conclusion is supported by an analysis of one-zone analytic chemical evolution models, and suggests that the mass-loading parameter (⁠η=M˙_outflow/M_∗⁠) scales as η∝M^β_∗ with β ≃ −0.4.