FROM GLOBAL TO SPATIALLY RESOLVED IN LOW-REDSHIFT GALAXIES

Our understanding of the structure, composition and evolution of galaxies has strongly improved in the last decades, mostly due to new results based on large spectro-scopic and imaging surveys. In particular, the nature of ionized gas, its ionization mech-anisms, its relation with the stellar properties and chemical composition, the existence of scaling relations that describe the cycle between stars and gas, and the corresponding evo-lution patterns have been widely explored and described. More recently, the introduction of additional techniques, in particular integral field spectroscopy, and their use in large galaxy surveys, have forced us to re-interpret most of those recent results from a spatially resolved perspective. This review is aimed to complement recent efforts to compile and summarize this change of paradigm in the interpretation of galaxy evolution. To this end we replicate published results, and present novel ones, based on the largest compilation of IFS data of galaxies in the nearby universe to date.

Automated summary

Our understanding of the structure, composition, and evolution of galaxies has greatly improved in recent decades, mainly due to new results from large spectroscopic and imaging surveys. The nature of ionized gas, its relation with stellar properties and chemical composition, scaling relations between stars and gas, and evolution patterns have been extensively explored and described. The introduction of additional techniques, particularly integral field spectroscopy, has led to a re-interpretation of recent results from a spatially resolved perspective.