DREAMS.II. Galaxy Demographics from Direct Te-Based Metallicities at z~2-10: Tracing the Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity and Fundamental Relations

We present the statistics of line ratios and direct Te-based metallicities from JWST medium-resolution spectra of 292 galaxies at z=2-10, combining DREAMS observations with those of JADES and CEERS. To remove systematics caused by stellar mass (M*) and star formation rate (SFR), we construct stacked spectra binned by redshift within fixed M* and SFR ranges, as well as across the full ranges. We find that the [OII]3727/Hb ratio drops by a factor of five from z3 to 8 at fixed M* and SFR, in contrast to the nearly constant [OIII]5007/Hb ratio. We derive metallicities via the direct Te method using the [OIII]4363 line, and identify that high-z galaxies lie on the low-metallicity end of the anti-correlation between ionization parameter and metallicity at z0. Photoionization modeling demonstrates that the redshift evolution, where metallicity decreases and ionization parameter increases, self-consistently explains the observed line ratios. We then examine the mass-metallicity (MZ) and fundamental (MZ-SFR) relations. Including additional galaxies at z10-12, we find that the MZ relation monotonically decreases from z3 to 10 at fixed M*, while the MZ-SFR relation shows a significant decline at z>8. Based on the ChemicalUniverseMachine model, this evolutionary trend can be explained by enhanced gas inflow (outflow) by a factor of ~5 (~1.7) at z>8.

💡 Research Summary

This paper presents a groundbreaking demographic study of galaxy metallicities from redshift z=2 to z=10, utilizing medium-resolution spectra from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The analysis is based on a combined sample of 292 galaxies from the DREAMS, JADES, CEERS, and ERO surveys. The core achievement of this work is the application of the direct “Te method” for metallicity determination at these high redshifts, which relies on detecting the faint auroral