A modern look at galactic abundance gradients

 

Fabio Bresolin (University of Hawaii)

 

The study of metallicity gradients in spiral disks has been a crucially important tool to understand the chemical evolution of galaxies. I will focus this talk on extragalactic gradients derived from young populations, and will briefly describe how observations of ionized nebulae (HII regions and PNe) and massive stars have shaped our understanding of the present-day radial distribution of metals in galaxies. I will highlight some recent developments in this field, in particular the study of gradients in outer galaxy disks and in galaxies at high redshift. I will conclude by introducing ongoing investigations of azimuthal metallicity variations and of gradients in low surface brightness galaxies.