Metallicity Gradient of a Lensed Face-on Spiral Galaxy at Redshift 1.49
  We present the first metallicity gradient measurement for a grand-design
face-on spiral galaxy at z~1.5. This galaxy has been magnified by a factor of
22$\times$ by a massive, X-ray luminous galaxy cluster MACS\,J1149.5+2223 at
z=0.544. Using the Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics aided integral field
spectrograph OSIRIS on KECK II, we target the Halpha emission and achieve a
spatial resolution of 0.1", corresponding to a source plane resolution of 170
pc. The galaxy has well-developed spiral arms and the nebular emission line
dynamics clearly indicate a rotationally supported disk with V_{rot}/\sigma~4.
The best-fit disk velocity field model yields a maximum rotation of V_{rot}
sin{i}=150$\pm$15 km s^{-1}, and a dynamical mass of
M_{dyn}=1.3$\pm0.2\times10^{10}csc^2(i) M_{\odot} (within 2.5\,kpc), where the
inclination angle i=45$\pm10^{\circ}$. Based on the [NII] and Halpha ratios, we
measured the radial chemical abundance gradient from the inner hundreds of
parsecs out to ~5 kpc. The slope of the gradient is -0.16$\pm$0.02 dex
kpc$^{-1}$, significantly steeper than the gradient of late-type or early-type
galaxies in the local universe. If representative of disk galaxies at z~1.5,
our results support an "inside-out" disk formation scenario in which early
infall/collapse in the galaxy center builds a chemically enriched nucleus,
followed by slow enrichment of the disk over the next 9 Gyr.
