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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal

The JADES Mass–Metallicity and Fundamental Metallicity Relations at z ≳ 2 Using New High-redshift Metallicity Calibrations

  • Natalie Lam1
  • Leonardo Clarke1
  • Alice E. Shapley1
  • Ryan L. Sanders2
  • Michael W. Topping3
  • Gabriel B. Brammer4,5
  • Naveen A. Reddy6
  • Shreya Karthikeyan1
6 affiliations
  1. 1University of California, Los Angeles
  2. 2University of Kentucky
  3. 3University of Arizona
  4. 4Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
  5. 5University of Copenhagen
  6. 6University of California, Riverside
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

We present measurements of the mass–metallicity relation (MZR) and fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) at 1.4 < z < 7.0 using stacked JWST/NIRSpec spectra of 601 star-forming galaxies from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). Using the most up-to-date strong-line metallicity calibrations based on high-redshift galaxies, we derive gas-phase metallicities from composite spectra binned by stellar mass, redshift, and star-forming main sequence (SFMS) offset. We find that the MZR slope evolves weakly from z ∼ 0 out to ∼5, with γ ∼ 0.21 ± 0.03, while the normalization decreases smoothly with redshift at a rate of d log ( O / H ) / d z ∼ − 0.1 out to z ∼ 4. Beyond z ≳ 5, the low-mass end continues to decline in metallicity while the high-mass end remains broadly consistent with lower-redshift relations, producing a steeper overall MZR. We additionally find evidence for a shallow anticorrelation between deviations from the MZR and SFMS at fixed stellar mass at z ∼ 1.4−5. This anticorrelation, albeit with weaker star formation rate coupling than observed locally, suggests that an FMR is already beginning to emerge by z ∼ 5. Comparisons with recent observations and cosmological simulations show broad agreement, though no single simulation simultaneously reproduces the observed slopes and normalizations across all redshifts. Our results support a picture in which bursty star formation and strong stellar feedback increasingly shape the regulation of galaxy growth at high redshift, while also highlighting the need for substantially larger spectroscopic samples to robustly constrain the evolution of galaxy scaling relations at high redshift.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{lam2026jades,
  title = {{The JADES Mass–Metallicity and Fundamental Metallicity Relations at z ≳ 2 Using New High-redshift Metallicity Calibrations}},
  author = {Natalie Lam and Leonardo Clarke and Alice E. Shapley and Ryan L. Sanders and Michael W. Topping and Gabriel B. Brammer and Naveen A. Reddy and Shreya Karthikeyan},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aeb09c},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeb09c},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - The JADES Mass–Metallicity and Fundamental Metallicity Relations at z ≳ 2 Using New High-redshift Metallicity Calibrations
AU  - Natalie Lam
AU  - Leonardo Clarke
AU  - Alice E. Shapley
AU  - Ryan L. Sanders
AU  - Michael W. Topping
AU  - Gabriel B. Brammer
AU  - Naveen A. Reddy
AU  - Shreya Karthikeyan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/06
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/aeb09c
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeb09c
AB  - We present measurements of the mass–metallicity relation (MZR) and fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) at 1.4 < z < 7.0 using stacked JWST/NIRSpec spectra of 601 star-forming galaxies from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). Using the most up-to-date strong-line metallicity calibrations based on high-redshift galaxies, we derive gas-phase metallicities from composite spectra binned by stellar mass, redshift, and star-forming main sequence (SFMS) offset. We find that the MZR slope evolves weakly from z ∼ 0 out to ∼5, with γ ∼ 0.21 ± 0.03, while the normalization decreases smoothly with redshift at a rate of d log ( O / H ) / d z ∼ − 0.1 out to z ∼ 4. Beyond z ≳ 5, the low-mass end continues to decline in metallicity while the high-mass end remains broadly consistent with lower-redshift relations, producing a steeper overall MZR. We additionally find evidence for a shallow anticorrelation between deviations from the MZR and SFMS at fixed stellar mass at z ∼ 1.4−5. This anticorrelation, albeit with weaker star formation rate coupling than observed locally, suggests that an FMR is already beginning to emerge by z ∼ 5. Comparisons with recent observations and cosmological simulations show broad agreement, though no single simulation simultaneously reproduces the observed slopes and normalizations across all redshifts. Our results support a picture in which bursty star formation and strong stellar feedback increasingly shape the regulation of galaxy growth at high redshift, while also highlighting the need for substantially larger spectroscopic samples to robustly constrain the evolution of galaxy scaling relations at high redshift.
SN  - 1538-4357
SN  - 0004-637X
ER  -