AMAZE and LSD: Metallicity and Dynamical Evolution of Galaxies in the Early Universe

The metal content in galaxies provides important information on the physical processes responsible for galaxy formation, but little was known for galaxies at z > 3, when the Universe was less than 15% of its current age. We report on our metallicity survey of galaxies at z > 3 using SINFONI at the VLT. We find that at z > 3, low-mass galaxies obey the same fundamental relation between metallicity, mass and star formation rate as at 0 < z < 2.5; however, at z > 3 massive galaxies deviate from this relation, being more metal-poor. In some of these massive galaxies we can even map the gas metallicity. We find that galaxies at z > 3.3 have regular rotation, though highly turbulent, and inverted abundance gradients relative to local galaxies, with lower abundances near the centre, close to the most active regions of star formation. Overall the results suggest that prominent inflow of pristine gas is responsible for the strong chemical evolution observed in galaxies at z > 3.