The evolution of the oxygen abundance gradients in star-forming galaxies
  in the EAGLE simulations
  We analyse the evolution of the oxygen abundance gradient of star-forming
galaxies with stellar mass Mstar > 10^9 Mo in the EAGK simulation over the
redshift range z=[0, 2.5]. We find that the median metallicity gradient of the
simulated galaxies is close to zero at all z, whereas the scatter around the
median increases with z. The metallicity gradients of individual galaxies can
evolve from strong to weak and vice-versa, since mostly low-metallicity gas
accretes onto the galaxy, resulting in enhanced star formation and ejection of
metal enriched gas by energy feedback. Such episodes of enhanced accretion,
mainly dominated by major mergers, are more common at higher z, and hence
contribute to increasing the diversity of gradients. For galaxies with negative
metallicity gradients, we find a redshift evolution of ~ -0.03 dex/kpc/\delta
z$. A positive mass dependence is found at z< 0.5, which becomes slightly
stronger for higher redshifts and, mainly, for Mstar < 10^9.5 Mo. Only galaxies
with negative metallicity gradients define a correlation with galaxy size,
consistent with an inside-out formation scenario. Our findings suggest that
major mergers and/or significant gas accretion can drive strong negative or
positive metallicity gradients. The first ones are preferentially associated
with disc-dominated galaxies, and the second ones with dispersion-dominated
systems. The comparison with forthcoming observations at high redshift will
allow a better understanding of the potential role of metallicity gradients as
a chemical probe of galaxy formation.
