Measuring the physical imprints of gas flows in galaxies : I. Accretion rate histories
Context. Galaxies are expected to accrete pristine gas from their surroundings to sustain their star formation over cosmic timescales. This mechanism is well established in models and simulations, but evidence from observations is mostly indirect. These gas inflows leave distinct traces in the chemical composition of newborn stars and alter the distribution of stellar abundances compared to what w