0.1<z<0.8 galaxies gas-phase metallicity grad.

However, given the potential redshift and size selection effects, we do not consider these trends to be significant. Indeed, once we normalize the SFR relative to that of the main sequence, we do not observe any trend between the metallicity gradient and the normalized SFR. This is contrary to recent studies of galaxies at similar and higher redshifts.

We do, however, identify a novel trend between the metallicity gradient of a galaxy and its size. Small galaxies (rd<3kpc) present a large spread in observed metallicity gradients (both negative and positive gradients). In contrast, we find no large galaxies (rd > 3 kpc) with positive metallicity gradients, and overall there is less scatter in the metallicity gradient amongst the large galaxies.

These large (well-evolved) galaxies may be analogues of present-day galaxies, which also show a common negative metallicity gradient.