All Figures

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig1.eps} \end{figure}$ Figure 1: [OIII]5007 line maps ( left) and near-IR spectra ( right) of the galaxies in the AMAZE sample presented here. Each [OIII]5007 map has a size of $3''\times 3''$ . The vertical dotted lines in the spectra indicate the expected location of nebular emission lines. The bottom panels show the sky spectrum. The shaded vertical regions overlaid on each spectrum highlight spectral region affected by strong sky emission lines.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig2.eps} \end{figure}$ Figure 2: Same as Fig. 1 for four additional sources.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig3.eps} \end{figure}$ Figure 3: Same as Figs. 1, 2 for one additional source.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig4.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 4: Composite spectrum of the nine sources presented in this paper.
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In the text

$\begin{figure*} \par\includegraphics[width=11.5cm,clip]{9678fig5.eps} \end{figure*}$ Figure 5: Relations between strong emission line ratios and gas metallicity. Blue squares are low metallicity galaxies (from Nagao et al. 2006) for which the metallicity is inferred through the electron temperature $T_{\rm e}$ method. Black dots are SDSS DR4 galaxies for which metallicities are inferred through the photoionization models in Kewley & Dopita (2002). The red line curve shows a polynomial fit to the relations in the form given by Eq. (1) with the coefficients given in Table 4.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=15cm,clip]{9678fig6.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 6: Example of the diagnostic tools used to determine the metallicity in the specific case of the composite spectrum. The upper left panel shows the best solution (blue cross) and the 1 $\sigma$ confidence level in the $A_{\rm V}$ -metallicity plane. In the other panels the black solid line (best fit) and the dashed lines (dispersion) show the empirical relations between various line ratios and the gas metallicity (see Fig. 5). The green errorbars show the observed ratios (along the Y-axis) and the best-fit metallicity with uncertainty (along the X-axis); the blue cross shows the de-reddened ratios, by adopting the best-fit extinction; the red line shows the projection of the 1 $\sigma$ uncertainty of the fit in the top-left panel.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=15cm,clip]{9678fig7.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 7: Mass-metallicity relation observed at different redshifts. The blue, solid and dotted lines indicate the mass-metallicity relation and its dispersion observed at $z\sim 0.07$ , as inferred by Kewley & Ellison (2008). The red diamonds with errorbars show the mass-metallicity relation at different redshifts traced by individual objects (or by stacked spectra in the case of panel b), $z\sim 2.2$ ). In panel c) ( $z\sim 3.5$ ) the green square with dashed errorbars is the composite spectrum (which has been assigned the median mass of the sample, but slightly offset to avoid a confusing overlap with an individual source). Black, solid lines show the analytical function Eq. (2) with the best fitting parameters listed in Table 5.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8cm,clip]{9678fig8.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 8: Comparison of the mass-metallicity relation observed at different redshifts, as parametrized by the analytical function Eq. (2) and coefficients in Table 5.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.5cm,clip]{9678fig9.ps} \par\end{figure}$ Figure 9: Average metallicity of star forming galaxies as a function of the cosmic age of the Universe, relative to local galaxies, for three different families of galaxies with different stellar masses ( $M_*/M_{\odot} = 10^9,~10^{10},~10^{11}$ ). Ages are sampled at the redshifts where observations are directly available. The average metallicity for each stellar mass was inferred by using the parametrization given by Eq. (2) and Table 5.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig10.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 10: Comparison between models/simulations predictions for the mass-metallicity relation at $z\sim 3$ and the results of our observations. The predictions obtained by models and simulations are shown with green points and dashed lines (the aperture used in the models/simulations is reported when available). The solid, black lines show the mass-metallicity relation observed at the same epochs (interpolated to the same, exact redshifts of the simulation by using Eq. (2) and Table 5). The thin black line shows the observed mass-metallicity relation by using the masses estimated with the BC03 templates, while the thick line is the inferred relation when using the M05 templates.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8.5cm,clip]{9678fig11.ps} \end{figure}$ Figure 11: Evolutionary tracks of individual galaxies on the mass-metallicity diagram according to some models for the formation of spheroids presented in Granato et al. (2004) (green solid lines) and in Pipino et al. (2006) (violet dashed lines), compared with the mass-metallicity relation observed at $z\sim 3.5$ (diamonds with errorbars). Squares mark the models temporal evolution from 0.02 Gyr to 0.3 Gyr, in steps of 0.04 Gyr. Red symbols show the masses of the observed objects inferred with the BC03 templates, while orange symbols are the masses inferred with the M05 templates.
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In the text

$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig2.eps} \end{figure}$	Figure 2: Same as Fig. 1 for four additional sources.
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig3.eps} \end{figure}$	Figure 3: Same as Figs. 1, 2 for one additional source.
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=12cm,clip]{9678fig4.ps} \end{figure}$	Figure 4: Composite spectrum of the nine sources presented in this paper.
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$\begin{figure} \par\includegraphics[width=8cm,clip]{9678fig8.ps} \end{figure}$	Figure 8: Comparison of the mass-metallicity relation observed at different redshifts, as parametrized by the analytical function Eq. (2) and coefficients in Table 5.
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