scholarly journals On the Impact of Inclination-dependent Attenuation on Derived Star Formation Histories: Results from Disk Galaxies in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey Fields

2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (1) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Keith Doore ◽  
Rafael T. Eufrasio ◽  
Bret D. Lehmer ◽  
Erik B. Monson ◽  
Antara Basu-Zych ◽  
...  

Abstract We develop and implement an inclination-dependent attenuation prescription for spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting and study its impact on derived star formation histories. We apply our prescription within the SED fitting code Lightning to a clean sample of 82, z = 0.21–1.35 disk-dominated galaxies in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North and South fields. To compare our inclination-dependent attenuation prescription with more traditional fitting prescriptions, we also fit the SEDs with the inclination-independent Calzetti et al. (2000) attenuation curve. From this comparison, we find that fits to a subset of 58, z < 0.7 galaxies in our sample, utilizing the Calzetti et al. (2000) prescription, recover similar trends with inclination as the inclination-dependent fits for the far-UV-band attenuation and recent star formation rates. However, we find a difference between prescriptions in the optical attenuation (A V ) that is strongly correlated with inclination (p‐value < 10−11). For more face-on galaxies, with i ≲ 50°, (edge-on, i ≈ 90°), the average derived A V is 0.31 ± 0.11 magnitudes lower (0.56 ± 0.16 magnitudes higher) for the inclination-dependent model compared to traditional methods. Further, the ratio of stellar masses between prescriptions also has a significant (p‐value < 10−2) trend with inclination. For i = 0°–65°, stellar masses are systematically consistent between fits, with log 10 ( M ⋆ inc / M ⋆ Calzetti ) = − 0.05 ± 0.03 dex and scatter of 0.11 dex. However, for i ≈ 80°–90°, the derived stellar masses are lower for the Calzetti et al. (2000) fits by an average factor of 0.17 ± 0.03 dex and scatter of 0.13 dex. Therefore, these results suggest that SED fitting assuming the Calzetti et al. (2000) attenuation law potentially underestimates stellar masses in highly inclined disk-dominated galaxies.

2020 ◽  
Vol 640 ◽  
pp. A67
Author(s):  
O. B. Kauffmann ◽  
O. Le Fèvre ◽  
O. Ilbert ◽  
J. Chevallard ◽  
C. C. Williams ◽  
...  

We present a new prospective analysis of deep multi-band imaging with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In this work, we investigate the recovery of high-redshift 5 <  z <  12 galaxies through extensive image simulations of accepted JWST programs, including the Early Release Science in the EGS field and the Guaranteed Time Observations in the HUDF. We introduced complete samples of ∼300 000 galaxies with stellar masses of log(M*/M⊙) > 6 and redshifts of 0 <  z <  15, as well as galactic stars, into realistic mock NIRCam, MIRI, and HST images to properly describe the impact of source blending. We extracted the photometry of the detected sources, as in real images, and estimated the physical properties of galaxies through spectral energy distribution fitting. We find that the photometric redshifts are primarily limited by the availability of blue-band and near-infrared medium-band imaging. The stellar masses and star formation rates are recovered within 0.25 and 0.3 dex, respectively, for galaxies with accurate photometric redshifts. Brown dwarfs contaminating the z >  5 galaxy samples can be reduced to < 0.01 arcmin−2 with a limited impact on galaxy completeness. We investigate multiple high-redshift galaxy selection techniques and find that the best compromise between completeness and purity at 5 <  z <  10 using the full redshift posterior probability distributions. In the EGS field, the galaxy completeness remains higher than 50% at magnitudes mUV <  27.5 and at all redshifts, and the purity is maintained above 80 and 60% at z ≤ 7 and 10, respectively. The faint-end slope of the galaxy UV luminosity function is recovered with a precision of 0.1–0.25, and the cosmic star formation rate density within 0.1 dex. We argue in favor of additional observing programs covering larger areas to better constrain the bright end.


2011 ◽  
Vol 733 (2) ◽  
pp. 114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Guaita ◽  
Viviana Acquaviva ◽  
Nelson Padilla ◽  
Eric Gawiser ◽  
Nicholas A. Bond ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 3240-3253
Author(s):  
Amanda R Lopes ◽  
Eduardo Telles ◽  
Jorge Melnick

ABSTRACT We discuss the implications of assuming different star formation histories (SFH) in the relation between star formation rate (SFR) and mass derived by the spectral energy distribution fitting (SED). Our analysis focuses on a sample of H ii galaxies, dwarf starburst galaxies spectroscopically selected through their strong narrow emission lines in SDSS DR13 at z &lt; 0.4, cross-matched with photometric catalogues from GALEX, SDSS, UKIDSS, and WISE. We modelled and fitted the SEDs with the code CIGALE adopting different descriptions of SFH. By adding information from different independent studies, we find that H ii galaxies are best described by episodic SFHs including an old (10 Gyr), an intermediate age (100−1000 Myr) and a recent population with ages &lt; 10 Myr. H ii galaxies agree with the SFR−M* relation from local star-forming galaxies, and only lie above such relation when the current SFR is adopted as opposed to the average over the entire SFH. The SFR−M* demonstrated not to be a good tool to provide additional information about the SFH of H ii galaxies, as different SFH present a similar behaviour with a spread of &lt;0.1 dex.


2019 ◽  
Vol 631 ◽  
pp. A38 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Lianou ◽  
P. Barmby ◽  
A. A. Mosenkov ◽  
M. Lehnert ◽  
O. Karczewski

Aims. We derived the dust properties for 753 local galaxies and examine how these relate to some of their physical properties. We present the derived dust emission properties, including model spectral energy distribution (SEDs), star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses, as well as their relations. Methods. We modelled the global dust-SEDs for 753 galaxies, treated statistically as an ensemble within a hierarchical Bayesian dust-SED modelling approach, so as to derive their infrared (IR) emission properties. To create the observed dust-SEDs, we used a multi-wavelength set of observations, ranging from near-IR to far-IR-to-submillimeter wavelengths. The model-derived properties are the dust masses (Mdust), the average interstellar radiation field intensities (Uav), the mass fraction of very small dust grains (“QPAH” fraction), as well as their standard deviations. In addition, we used mid-IR observations to derive SFR and stellar masses, quantities independent of the dust-SED modelling. Results. We derive distribution functions of the properties for the galaxy ensemble and as a function of galaxy type. The mean value of Mdust for the early-type galaxies (ETGs) is lower than that for the late-type and irregular galaxies (LTGs and Irs, respectively), despite ETGs and LTGs having stellar masses spanning across the whole range observed. The Uav and “QPAH” fraction show no difference among different galaxy types. When fixing Uav to the Galactic value, the derived “QPAH” fraction varies across the Galactic value (0.071). The specific SFR increases with galaxy type, while this is not the case for the dust-specific SFR (SFR/Mdust), showing an almost constant star formation efficiency per galaxy type. The galaxy sample is characterised by a tight relationship between the dust mass and the stellar mass for the LTGs and Irs, while ETGs scatter around this relation and tend towards smaller dust masses. While the relation indicates that Mdust may fundamentally be linked to M⋆, metallicity and Uav are the second parameter driving the scatter, which we investigate in a forthcoming work. We used the extended Kennicutt–Schmidt (KS) law to estimate the gas mass and the gas-to-dust mass ratio (GDR). The gas mass derived from the extended KS law is on average ∼20% higher than that derived from the KS law, and a large standard deviation indicates the importance of the average star formation present to regulate star formation and gas supply. The average GDR for the LTGs and Irs is 370, and including the ETGs gives an average of 550.


2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (2) ◽  
pp. 2323-2338
Author(s):  
Thomas M Jackson ◽  
D J Rosario ◽  
D M Alexander ◽  
J Scholtz ◽  
Stuart McAlpine ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present data from 72 low-redshift, hard X-ray selected active galactic nucleus (AGN) taken from the Swift–BAT 58 month catalogue. We utilize spectral energy distribution fitting to the optical to infrared photometry in order to estimate host galaxy properties. We compare this observational sample to a volume- and flux-matched sample of AGN from the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) hydrodynamical simulations in order to verify how accurately the simulations can reproduce observed AGN host galaxy properties. After correcting for the known +0.2 dex offset in the SFRs between EAGLE and previous observations, we find agreement in the star formation rate (SFR) and X-ray luminosity distributions; however, we find that the stellar masses in EAGLE are 0.2–0.4 dex greater than the observational sample, which consequently leads to lower specific star formation rates (sSFRs). We compare these results to our previous study at high redshift, finding agreement in both the observations and simulations, whereby the widths of sSFR distributions are similar (∼0.4–0.6 dex) and the median of the SFR distributions lie below the star-forming main sequence by ∼0.3–0.5 dex across all samples. We also use EAGLE to select a sample of AGN host galaxies at high and low redshift and follow their characteristic evolution from z = 8 to z = 0. We find similar behaviour between these two samples, whereby star formation is quenched when the black hole goes through its phase of most rapid growth. Utilizing EAGLE we find that 23 per cent of AGN selected at z ∼ 0 are also AGN at high redshift, and that their host galaxies are among the most massive objects in the simulation. Overall, we find EAGLE reproduces the observations well, with some minor inconsistencies (∼0.2 dex in stellar masses and ∼0.4 dex in sSFRs).


2018 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. A82 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Circosta ◽  
V. Mainieri ◽  
P. Padovani ◽  
G. Lanzuisi ◽  
M. Salvato ◽  
...  

Theoretical models of galaxy formation suggest that the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) is required to regulate the growth of its host galaxy through feedback mechanisms, produced by, for example, AGN-driven outflows. Although many observational studies have revealed that such outflows are common both at low and high redshift, a comprehensive picture is still missing. In particular, the peak epoch of galaxy assembly (1 <  z <  3) has been poorly explored so far, and current observations in this redshift range are mostly limited to targets with high chances to be in an outflowing phase. This paper introduces SUPER (a SINFONI Survey for Unveiling the Physics and Effect of Radiative feedback), an ongoing ESO’s VLT/SINFONI Large Programme. SUPER will perform the first systematic investigation of ionized outflows in a sizeable and blindly-selected sample of 39 X-ray AGN at z ∼ 2, which reaches high spatial resolutions (∼2 kpc) thanks to the adaptive optics-assisted IFS observations. The outflow morphology and star formation in the host galaxy will be mapped through the broad component of [O III]λ5007 and the narrow component of Hα emission lines. The main aim of our survey is to infer the impact of outflows on the on-going star formation and to link the outflow properties to a number of AGN and host galaxy properties. We describe here the survey characteristics and goals, as well as the selection of the target sample. Moreover, we present a full characterization of its multi-wavelength properties: we measure, via spectral energy distribution fitting of UV-to-FIR photometry, stellar masses (4 × 109 − 2 × 1011 M⊙), star formation rates (25 − 680 M⊙ yr−1) and AGN bolometric luminosities (2 × 1044 − 8 × 1047 erg s−1), along with obscuring column densities (up to 2 × 1024 cm−2) and luminosities in the hard 2 − 10 keV band (2 × 1043 − 6 × 1045 erg s−1) derived through X-ray spectral analysis. Finally, we classify our AGN as jetted or non-jetted according to their radio and FIR emission.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (3) ◽  
pp. 4325-4369
Author(s):  
Andrés F Ramos Padilla ◽  
M L N Ashby ◽  
Howard A Smith ◽  
Juan R Martínez-Galarza ◽  
Aliza G Beverage ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Emission from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is known to play an important role in the evolution of many galaxies including luminous and ultraluminous systems (U/LIRGs), as well as merging systems. However, the extent, duration, and exact effects of its influence are still imperfectly understood. To assess the impact of AGNs on interacting systems, we present a spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis of a sample of 189 nearby galaxies. We gather and systematically re-reduce archival broad-band imaging mosaics from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared using data from GALEX, SDSS, 2MASS, IRAS, WISE, Spitzer, and Herschel. We use spectroscopy from Spitzer/IRS to obtain fluxes from fine-structure lines that trace star formation and AGN activity. Utilizing the SED modelling and fitting tool cigale, we derive the physical conditions of the interstellar medium, both in star-forming regions and in nuclear regions dominated by the AGN in these galaxies. We investigate how the star formation rates (SFRs) and the fractional AGN contributions (fAGN) depend on stellar mass, galaxy type, and merger stage. We find that luminous galaxies more massive than about $10^{10} \,\rm {M}_{*}$ are likely to deviate significantly from the conventional galaxy main-sequence relation. Interestingly, infrared AGN luminosity and stellar mass in this set of objects are much tighter than SFR and stellar mass. We find that buried AGNs may occupy a locus between bright starbursts and pure AGNs in the fAGN–[Ne v]/[Ne ii] plane. We identify a modest correlation between fAGN and mergers in their later stages.


2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (4) ◽  
pp. 5503-5520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C Lovell ◽  
Viviana Acquaviva ◽  
Peter A Thomas ◽  
Kartheik G Iyer ◽  
Eric Gawiser ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a new method for inferring galaxy star formation histories (SFH) using machine learning methods coupled with two cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We train convolutional neural networks to learn the relationship between synthetic galaxy spectra and high-resolution SFHs from the eagle and Illustris models. To evaluate our SFH reconstruction we use Symmetric Mean Absolute Percentage Error (SMAPE), which acts as a true percentage error in the low error regime. On dust-attenuated spectra we achieve high test accuracy (median SMAPE = 10.5 per cent). Including the effects of simulated observational noise increases the error (12.5 per cent), however this is alleviated by including multiple realizations of the noise, which increases the training set size and reduces overfitting (10.9 per cent). We also make estimates for the observational and modelling errors. To further evaluate the generalization properties we apply models trained on one simulation to spectra from the other, which leads to only a small increase in the error (median SMAPE $\sim 15{\,{\rm {per\, cent}}}$). We apply each trained model to SDSS DR7 spectra, and find smoother histories than in the $\textsf{vespa}$ catalogue. This new approach complements the results of existing spectral energy distribution fitting techniques, providing SFHs directly motivated by the results of the latest cosmological simulations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. A55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Telles ◽  
Jorge Melnick

Aims. We present a UV to mid-IR spectral energy distribution (SED) study of a large sample of SDSS DR13 HII galaxies. These galaxies are selected as starbursts (EW(Hα) > 50Å) and for their high-excitation locus in the upper left region of the BPT diagram. Their photometry was derived from the cross-matched GALEX, SDSS, UKDISS, and WISE catalogs. Methods. We used CIGALE modeling and a SED fitting routine with the parametrization of a three-burst star formation history, and a comprehensive analysis of all other model parameters. We were able to estimate the contribution of the underlying old stellar population to the observed equivalent width of Hβ, and allow for more accurate burst age determination. Results. We found that the star formation histories of HII Galaxies can be reproduced remarkably well by three major eras of star formation. In addition, the SED fitting results indicate that in all cases the current burst produces a small percent of the total stellar mass, i.e., the bulk of stellar mass in HII galaxies has been produced by the past episodes of star formation, and also indicate that at a given age the Hβ luminosity depends only on the mass of young stars favoring a universal IMF for massive stars. Most importantly, the current star formation episodes are maximum starbursts that produce stars at the highest possible rate.


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