Systematic Uncertainties in Stellar Mass Estimation for Distinct Galaxy Populations

Kannappan, Sheila J.; Gawiser, Eric

doi:10.1086/512974

Cited by 98 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…The major cause of this discrepancy is the different treatments of the Thermally Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch (TP-AGB) phase of stellar evolution in the population models, as debated by several authors (e.g., Maraston et al 2006;Kannappan & Gawiser 2007;Bruzual A 2007).…”

Section: Comparison Between the Bc03 Ma05 Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for massive galaxies at z ≥ 3.5 in GOODS-North

Mancini

Matute

Cimatti

et al. 2009

A&A

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Aims. We constrain the space density and properties of massive galaxy candidates at redshifts of z ≥ 3.5 in the Great Observatories Origin Deep Survey North (GOODS-N) field. By selecting sources in the Spitzer + IRAC bands, a sample highly complete in stellarmass is assembled, including massive galaxies that are very faint in the optical/near-IR bands and would be missed by samples selected at shorter wavelengths. Methods. The z ≥ 3.5 sample was selected to m AB = 23 mag at 4.5 μm using photometric redshifts obtained by fitting the galaxies spectral energy distribution at optical, near-IR bands, and IRAC bands. We also require that the brightest band (in AB scale) in which candidates are detected is the IRAC 8.0 μm band to ensure that the near-IR 1.6 μm (rest-frame) peak is falling in or beyond this band. Results. We found 53 z ≥ 3.5 candidates, of masses in the range M ∼ 10 10 −10 11 M . At least ∼81% of these galaxies are missed by traditional Lyman Break selection methods based on ultraviolet light. Spitzer + MIPS emission is detected for 60% of the sample of z ≥ 3.5 galaxy candidates. Although in some cases this might suggest a residual contamination from lower redshift starforming galaxies or Active Galactic Nuclei, 37% of these objects are also detected in the sub-mm/mm bands in SCUBA, AzTEC, and MAMBO surveys, and have properties fully consistent with vigorous starburst galaxies at z ≥ 3.5. The comoving number density of galaxies with stellar masses of above 5 × 10 10 M (a reasonable stellar-mass completeness limit for our sample) is 2.6 × 10 −5 Mpc −3 (using the volume within 3.5 < z < 5), and the corresponding stellar mass density is ∼(2.9 ± 1.5) × 10 6 M Mpc −3 , or about 3% of the local density above the same stellar mass limit. For the subsample of MIPS-undetected galaxies, we measure a number density of ∼0.97 × 10 −5 Mpc −3 and a stellar mass density of ∼(1.15 ± 0.7) × 10 6 M Mpc −3 . Even in the unlikely case that these are all truly quiescent galaxies, this would imply an increase in the space density of passive galaxies by a factor of ∼15 between z ∼ 4 and z = 2, and by ∼100 to z = 0.

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Section: Comparison Between the Bc03 Ma05 Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for massive galaxies at z ≥ 3.5 in GOODS-North

Mancini

Matute

Cimatti

et al. 2009

A&A

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“…Only recently has it become feasible to attempt an interpretation of the observed magnitudes of the relatively faint galaxy populations at z 3-6 in terms of stellar masses, ages, dust, and SFHs based on detailed fitting of SEDs using model libraries (see references given in Section 1 and therein). While there is ongoing debate about the correctness of the treatment of different stellar evolutionary phases in the model libraries (e.g., Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 1997;Bruzual & Charlot 2003;Maraston et al 2006;Rettura et al 2006;Kannappan & Gawiser 2007;Eminian et al 2008), they at least allow for an assessment of the comparative properties among samples across redshift or across the CMD, provided that these samples are sufficiently "simple" to model and that the adopting of a faulty model does not lead to catastrophic systematic effects across the various samples. At the least, this requires highly accurate photometry in all of the rest-UV, optical, and infrared, and such studies have therefore been limited to a small set of well-studied fields.…”

Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

STELLAR MASSES OF LYMAN BREAK GALAXIES, Lyα EMITTERS, AND RADIO GALAXIES IN OVERDENSE REGIONS ATz= 4-6

Overzier

Shu

Zheng

et al. 2009

ApJ

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We present new information on galaxies in the vicinity of luminous radio galaxies (RGs) and quasars at z 4, 5, and 6. These fields were previously found to contain overdensities of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) or spectroscopic Lyα emitters, which were interpreted as evidence for clusters-in-formation ("protoclusters"). We use Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer data to infer stellar masses from stellar synthesis models calibrated against the Millennium Run simulations, and contrast our results with large samples of LBGs in more average environments as probed by the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). The following results were obtained. First, LBGs in both overdense regions and in the field at z = 4-5 lie on a very similar sequence in a z -[3.6] versus 3.6 μm color-magnitude diagram. This is interpreted as a sequence in stellar mass (M * ∼ 10 9 -10 11 M ) in which galaxies become increasingly red due to dust and age as their star formation rate (SFR) increases, while their specific SFR stays constant. Second, the two RGs are among the most massive objects (M * ∼ 10 11 M ) known to exist at z 4-5, and are extremely rare based on the low number density of such objects as estimated from the ∼25× larger area GOODS survey. We suggest that the presence of the massive (radio) galaxies and associated supermassive black holes has been boosted through rapid accretion of gas or merging inside overdense regions. Third, the total stellar mass found in the z = 4 protocluster TN1338 accounts for <30% of the stellar mass on the cluster red sequence expected to have formed at z 4, based on a comparison with the massive X-ray cluster Cl1252 at z = 1.2. Although future near-infrared observations should determine whether any massive galaxies are currently being missed by our UV/Lyα selections, one possible explanation for this mass difference is that TN1338 evolves into a smaller cluster than Cl1252. This raises the interesting question of whether the most massive protocluster regions at z > 4 remain yet to be discovered.

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“…At its simplest, this can be done assuming thata galaxy has a single stellar population (SSP) and using a single photometric bandpass. More sophisticated approaches use multiple photometric bands and/or spectra in order to attempt to fit more realistic star formation histories (SFHs) and to estimate dust obscuration, and thereby to decompose the integrated light into the constituent components emitted by each stellar population separately (see, e.g., Bell et al 2003;Kannappan & Gawiser 2007;da Cunha et al 2008;Zibetti et al 2009;Magris et al 2015;McDermid et al 2015 for various implementations and Mitchell et al 2013 for a detailed examination of the systematic uncertainties present in this approach). In effect, this results in the fitting of multiple M/Ls to each galaxy's stellar make-up.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Being Wise Ii: Reducing the Influence of Star Formation History on the Mass-to-Light Ratio of Quiescent Galaxies

Norris

Ven

Schinnerer

et al. 2016

ApJ

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. ABSTRACTStellar population synthesis models can now reproduce the photometry of old stellar systems (age > 2 Gyr) in the near-infrared (NIR) bands at 3.4 and 4.6 μm (WISE W1 and W2 or IRAC 1 and 2). In this paper,we derive stellar mass-to-light ratios for these and optical bands, and confirm that the NIR M/L shows dramatically reduced sensitivity to both age and metallicity compared to optical bands, and further, that this behavior leads to significantly more robust stellar masses for quiescent galaxies with [Fe/H]  −0.5 regardless of star-formation history (SFH). We then use realistic early-type galaxy SFHs and metallicity distributions from the EAGLE simulations of galaxy formation to investigate two methods to determine the appropriate M/L for a galaxy.(1) We show that the uncertainties introduced by an unknown SFH can be largely removed using a spectroscopically inferred luminosity-weighted age and metallicity for the population to select the appropriate single stellar population (SSP) equivalent M/L. Using this method, the maximum systematic error due to SFH on the M/L of an early-type galaxy is <4% at 3.4 μm and typical uncertainties due to errors in the age and metallicity create a scatter of 13%. The equivalent values for optical bands are more than two to three times greater, even before considering uncertainties associated with internal dust extinction.(2) We demonstrate that if the EAGLE SFHs and metallicities accurately reproduce the true properties of early-type galaxies, the use of an iterative approach to select a mass dependent M/L can provide even more accurate stellar masses for early-type galaxies, with typical uncertainties of <9%.

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Systematic Uncertainties in Stellar Mass Estimation for Distinct Galaxy Populations

Cited by 98 publications

References 25 publications

Searching for massive galaxies at z ≥ 3.5 in GOODS-North

Searching for massive galaxies at z ≥ 3.5 in GOODS-North

STELLAR MASSES OF LYMAN BREAK GALAXIES, Lyα EMITTERS, AND RADIO GALAXIES IN OVERDENSE REGIONS ATz= 4-6

Being Wise Ii: Reducing the Influence of Star Formation History on the Mass-to-Light Ratio of Quiescent Galaxies

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