The Metallicity Evolution of Interacting Galaxies

Understand

Nuclear inflows of metal-poor interstellar gas triggered by galaxy interactions can account for the systematically lower central oxygen abundances observed in local interacting galaxies.

• Here, we investigate the metallicity evolution of a large set of simulations of colliding galaxies.
• Our models include cooling, star formation, feedback, and a new stochastic method for tracking the mass recycled back to the interstellar medium from stellar winds and supernovae.
• We study the influence of merger-induced inflows, enrichment, gas consumption, and galactic winds in determining the nuclear metallicity.