Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to <i>z</i> ∼ 1

Díaz-García, L. A.; Cenarro, A. J.; López-Sanjuan, C.; Arriba, L. Peralta de; Ferreras, Ignacio; Cerviño, M.; Márquez, I.; Masegosa, J.; Olmo, A. del; Perea, J.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935257

Cited by 25 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 149 publications

(210 reference statements)

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“…This result is not surprising because, as revealed in this study, the values of extinction in quiescent galaxies are typically low (average value of A V ∼ 0.3). We find that the use of different synthesis models, such as BC03 and EMILES, is a much larger source of systematics than the use of different extinction or attenuation laws (see also Díaz-García et al 2019a).…”

Section: Consistency Of the Results Using Alternative Attenuation Lawsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to z ∼ 1

Díaz-García

Cenarro

López-Sanjuan

et al. 2019

A&A

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Aims. Our aim is to determine the distribution of stellar population parameters (extinction, age, metallicity, and star formation rates) of quiescent galaxies within the rest-frame stellar mass–colour diagrams and UVJ colour–colour diagrams corrected for extinction up to z ∼ 1. These novel diagrams reduce the contamination in samples of quiescent galaxies owing to dust-reddened galaxies, and they provide useful constraints on stellar population parameters only using rest-frame colours and/or stellar mass. Methods. We set constraints on the stellar population parameters of quiescent galaxies combining the ALHAMBRA multi-filter photo-spectra with our fitting code for spectral energy distribution, MUlti-Filter FITting (MUFFIT), making use of composite stellar population models based on two independent sets of simple stellar population (SSP) models. The extinction obtained by MUFFIT allowed us to remove dusty star-forming (DSF) galaxies from the sample of red UVJ galaxies. The distributions of stellar population parameters across these rest-frame diagrams are revealed after the dust correction and are fitted by LOESS, a bi-dimensional and locally weighted regression method, to reduce uncertainty effects. Results. Quiescent galaxy samples defined via classical UVJ diagrams are typically contaminated by a ∼20% fraction of DSF galaxies. A significant part of the galaxies in the green valley are actually obscured star-forming galaxies (∼30–65%). Consequently, the transition of galaxies from the blue cloud to the red sequence, and hence the related mechanisms for quenching, seems to be much more efficient and faster than previously reported. The rest-frame stellar mass–colour and UVJ colour–colour diagrams are useful for constraining the age, metallicity, extinction, and star formation rate of quiescent galaxies by only their redshift, rest-frame colours, and/or stellar mass. Dust correction plays an important role in understanding how quiescent galaxies are distributed in these diagrams and is key to performing a pure selection of quiescent galaxies via intrinsic colours.

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Section: Consistency Of the Results Using Alternative Attenuation Lawsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to z ∼ 1

Díaz-García

Cenarro

López-Sanjuan

et al. 2019

A&A

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“…Our parent catalogue is the sample of quiescent galaxies of Díaz-García et al (2019a;hereafter DG17). This catalogue is complete in stellar mass and in magnitude, down to I = 23 and contains ∼8500 quiescent galaxies from the multi-filter ALHAMBRA survey 9 over a redshift range of 0.1 ≤ z ≤ 1.1.…”

Section: Sample Of Quiescent Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sánchez-Blázquez et al 2009a;Gallazzi et al 2014;Jørgensen et al 2017). Nevertheless, some authors point out that there are more relevant parameters than stellar mass as drivers of the stellar populations of galaxies (Díaz-García et al 2019b), such as the stellar surface density (Kauffmann et al 2003;Franx et al 2008) or central velocity dispersion (Trager et al 2000;Gallazzi et al 2006;Graves & Faber 2010;Cappellari et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up toz ∼ 1

Díaz-García

Cenarro

López-Sanjuan

et al. 2019

A&A

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Aims. We aim at constraining the stellar population properties of quiescent galaxies. These properties reveal how these galaxies evolved and assembled since z ∼ 1 up to the present time. Methods. Combining the ALHAMBRA multi-filter photo-spectra with the fitting code for spectral energy distribution MUFFIT (MUlti-Filter FITting), we built a complete catalogue of quiescent galaxies via the dust-corrected stellar mass vs. colour diagram. This catalogue includes stellar population properties, such as age, metallicity, extinction, stellar mass, and photometric redshift, retrieved from the analysis of composited populations based on two independent sets of simple stellar population (SSP) models. We developed and applied a novel methodology to provide, for the first time, the analytic probability distribution functions (PDFs) of mass-weighted age, metallicity, and extinction of quiescent galaxies as a function of redshift and stellar mass. We adopted different star formation histories to discard potential systematics in the analysis. Results. The number density of quiescent galaxies is found to increase since z ∼ 1, with a more substantial variation at lower stellar mass. Quiescent galaxies feature extinction AV < 0.6, with median values in the range AV = 0.15–0.3. At increasing stellar mass, quiescent galaxies are older and more metal rich since z ∼ 1. A detailed analysis of the PDFs reveals that the evolution of quiescent galaxies is not compatible with passive evolution and a slight decrease of 0.1–0.2 dex is hinted at median metallicity. The intrinsic dispersion of the age and metallicity PDFs show a dependence on stellar mass and/or redshift. These results are consistent with both sets of SSP models and assumptions of alternative star formation histories explored. Consequently, the quiescent population must undergo an evolutive pathway including mergers and/or remnants of star formation to reconcile the observed trends, where the “progenitor” bias should also be taken into account.

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“…At the same time, however, it is highly unlikely that a description based on a single parameter, the stellar mass, can be sufficient to capture all the complexities of galaxy evolution. Even objects as apparently simple as elliptical galaxies exhibit nontrivial variations with half-light radius at fixed stellar mass, for example in their stellar population properties (Díaz-García et al 2019) or in the mass of their central supermassive black hole (van den Bosch 2016). Similar variations of galaxy properties with both mass and size are seen in hydrodynamical simulations (see e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A robust two-parameter description of the stellar profile of elliptical galaxies

Sonnenfeld

2020

A&A

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Context. The stellar density profile of a galaxy is typically summarised with two numbers: the total stellar mass and half-light radius. The total mass of a galaxy, however, is not a well-defined quantity, due to the finite depth of photometric observations and the arbitrariness of the distinction between galaxy and diffuse intra-group light. This limits our ability to make accurate comparisons between models and observations. Aims. I wish to provide a more robust two-parameter description of the stellar density distribution of elliptical galaxies, in terms of quantities that can be measured unambiguously. Methods. I propose using the stellar mass enclosed within 10 kpc in projection, M*,10, and the mass-weighted stellar density slope within the same aperture, Γ*,10, for this purpose. I measured the distribution in M*,10 and Γ*,10 of a sample of elliptical galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey, using photometry from the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey. I measured, at fixed (M*,10, Γ*,10), what the spread is in the galaxy surface brightness profile and central stellar velocity dispersion within the sample. As a first application, I then compared the observed M*,10 − Γ*,10 relation of elliptical galaxies with that of similarly selected galaxies in the EAGLE REFERENCE simulation. Results. The pair of values of (M*,10, Γ*,10) can be used to predict the stellar density profile in the inner 10 kpc of a galaxy with better than 20% accuracy. Similarly, M*,10 and Γ*,10 can be combined to obtain a proxy for stellar velocity dispersion that is at least as good as the stellar mass fundamental plane. The average stellar density slope of EAGLE elliptical galaxies matches that of observed ones at M*,10 = 1011 M⊙ well, but the EAGLE M*,10 − Γ*,10 relation is shallower and has a larger intrinsic scatter compared to observations. Conclusions. This new parameterisation of the stellar density profile of massive elliptical galaxies provides a more robust way of comparing results from different photometric surveys and from hydrodynamical simulations, with respect to a description based on total stellar mass and half-light radius.

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Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to z ∼ 1

Cited by 25 publications

References 149 publications

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to z ∼ 1

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to z ∼ 1

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up toz ∼ 1

A robust two-parameter description of the stellar profile of elliptical galaxies

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