UC Riverside

This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of galaxies spanning a wide range in mass and environment, using deep optical/infrared spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging to understand the physical mechanisms deriving their formation and evolution. The research is structured around three primary studies. 1) I studied the metal enrichment of galaxies in protoclusters and the effect of the environment on the mass-metallicity relation (MZR). I found that massive galaxies residing in protoclusters are metal-deficient compared to galaxies in the field. This implies that primordial cold gas, channeled through cosmic filaments, dilutes the metal content of the protocluster; 2) I investigated the fraction of clumpy galaxies at 0.5< z< 3, using UVCANDELS and CANDELS imaging data to examine clump properties in star-forming galaxies. The results reveal a peak in clumpiness around cosmic noon, with a decline towards the present and a lack of environmental dependence, suggesting that internal processes predominantly drive clump formation; 3) I extended the analyses to dwarf galaxies at z ~ 0.15, establishing a robust mass-metallicity relation and confirming the fundamental metallicity relation at low masses, highlighting the nuanced interplay between star formation rate and gas-phase metallicity. I find that the intrinsic scatter in the MZR is larger for dwarf galaxies compared to normal galaxies, indicating more diverse star formation histories and/or stronger environmental effects in these systems. This work advances our understanding of galaxy evolution across cosmic time, offering new insights into the mechanisms influencing star formation and chemical enrichment and finding the complex interplay between internal dynamics and environmental factors in shaping galaxy evolution.