Revisiting the origin of the high metallicities of sub-damped
  Lyman-alpha systems
  Sub-damped Lyman-alpha systems (sub-DLAs) have previously been found to
exhibit a steeper metallicity evolution than the classical damped Lyman-alpha
systems (DLAs), evolving to close to solar metallicity by z~1. From new
high-resolution spectra of 17 sub-DLAs we have increased the number of
measurements of [Fe/H] at z<1.7 by 25% and compiled the most complete
literature sample of sub-DLA and DLA abundances to date. We find that sub-DLAs
are indeed significantly more metal-rich than DLAs, but only at z<1.7; the
metallicity distributions of sub-DLAs and DLAs at z>1.7 are statistically
consistent. We also present the first evidence that sub-DLAs follow a velocity
width-metallicity correlation over the same velocity range as DLAs, but the
relation is offset to higher metallicities than the DLA relation. On the basis
of these results, we revisit the previous explanation that the systematically
higher metallicities observed in sub-DLAs are indicative of higher host galaxy
masses. We discuss the various problems that this interpretation encounters and
conclude that in general sub-DLAs are not uniquely synonymous with massive
galaxies. We rule out physically related sources of bias (dust, environment,
ionization effects) and examine systematics associated with the selection and
analysis of low-redshift sub-DLAs. We propose that the high metallicities of
sub-DLAs at z<1.7 that drives an apparently steep evolution may be due to the
selection of most low-redshift sub-DLAs based on their high MgII equivalent
widths.
