The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2023)
The Art of Measuring Physical Parameters in Galaxies: A Critical Assessment of Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting Techniques
- Camilla Pacifici,
- Kartheik G. Iyer,
- Bahram Mobasher,
- Elisabete da Cunha,
- Viviana Acquaviva,
- Denis Burgarella,
- Gabriela Calistro Rivera,
- Adam C. Carnall,
- Yu-Yen Chang,
- Nima Chartab,
- Kevin C. Cooke,
- Ciaran Fairhurst,
- Jeyhan Kartaltepe,
- Joel Leja,
- Katarzyna Małek,
- Brett Salmon,
- Marianna Torelli,
- Alba Vidal-García,
- Médéric Boquien,
- Gabriel G. Brammer,
- Michael J. I. Brown,
- Peter L. Capak,
- Jacopo Chevallard,
- Chiara Circosta,
- Darren Croton,
- Iary Davidzon,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Kenneth J. Duncan,
- Sandra M. Faber,
- Harry C. Ferguson,
- Adriano Fontana,
- Yicheng Guo,
- Boris Haeussler,
- Shoubaneh Hemmati,
- Marziye Jafariyazani,
- Susan A. Kassin,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Bomee Lee,
- Kameswara Bharadwaj Mantha,
- Francesca Marchi,
- Hooshang Nayyeri,
- Jeffrey A. Newman,
- Viraj Pandya,
- Janine Pforr,
- Naveen Reddy,
- Ryan Sanders,
- Ekta Shah,
- Abtin Shahidi,
- Matthew L. Stevans,
- Dian Puspita Triani,
- Krystal D. Tyler,
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof,
- Alexander de la Vega,
- Weichen Wang,
- Madalyn E. Weston
Affiliations
- Camilla Pacifici
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Kartheik G. Iyer
- ORCiD
- Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H4, Canada; Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Bahram Mobasher
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Elisabete da Cunha
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia , 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2611, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Viviana Acquaviva
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, CUNY NYC College of Technology , Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA; Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , New York, NY 10010, USA
- Denis Burgarella
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France
- Gabriela Calistro Rivera
- European Southern Observatory , Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-85748, Garching, Germany
- Adam C. Carnall
- ORCiD
- SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
- Yu-Yen Chang
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, National Chung Hsing University , Taichung, 40227, Taiwan; Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan
- Nima Chartab
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Kevin C. Cooke
- ORCiD
- AAAS S&T Policy Fellow hosted at the National Science Foundation , 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA
- Ciaran Fairhurst
- Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex , Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK
- Jeyhan Kartaltepe
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Joel Leja
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Katarzyna Małek
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France; National Centre for Nuclear Research , ul. Pasteura 7, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland
- Brett Salmon
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Marianna Torelli
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Italy
- Alba Vidal-García
- ORCiD
- Observatorio Astrónmico Nacional (IGN) , C. Alfonso XII, 3, E-28014 Madrid, Spain; Laboratoire de Physique de l’École Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université , Université de Paris, F-75005, Paris, France
- Médéric Boquien
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astronomía (CITEVA), Universidad de Antofagasta , Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile
- Gabriel G. Brammer
- ORCiD
- Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, Køobenhavn N, DK-2200, Denmark; Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark
- Michael J. I. Brown
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University , Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
- Peter L. Capak
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark
- Jacopo Chevallard
- ORCiD
- CNRS, UMR7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, Sorbonne Université , F-75014, Paris, France
- Chiara Circosta
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- Darren Croton
- ORCiD
- ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia; Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
- Iary Davidzon
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- Community Science and Data Center/NSF’s NOIRLab , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Kenneth J. Duncan
- SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
- Sandra M. Faber
- UCO/Lick Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz , Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Harry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Adriano Fontana
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Italy
- Yicheng Guo
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri , Columbia, MO 65211, USA
- Boris Haeussler
- European Southern Observatory , Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
- Shoubaneh Hemmati
- ORCiD
- IPAC, California Institute of Technology , 1200 E California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Marziye Jafariyazani
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; IPAC/Caltech , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Susan A. Kassin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected]
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, United States
- Bomee Lee
- ORCiD
- Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute , Daedeokdae-ro 776, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea
- Kameswara Bharadwaj Mantha
- Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota , 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota , 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Francesca Marchi
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via di Frascati 33, I-00078, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Hooshang Nayyeri
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine , Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Jeffrey A. Newman
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA; Pittsburgh Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Center (PITT PACC), University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Viraj Pandya
- ORCiD
- Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H4, Canada; UCO/Lick Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz , Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA; Department of Astronomy, Columbia University , 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Janine Pforr
- Scientific Support Office, Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA/ESTEC) , Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Naveen Reddy
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Ryan Sanders
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of California, Davis , One Shields Boulevard, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Ekta Shah
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of California, Davis , One Shields Boulevard, Davis, CA 95616, USA; School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Abtin Shahidi
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Matthew L. Stevans
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Dian Puspita Triani
- ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia; Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia; Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Weston Creek, ACT 2611, Australia; Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithshonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Krystal D. Tyler
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Alexander de la Vega
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Bloomberg Center, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Weichen Wang
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithshonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Dipartimento di Fisica ‘G. Occhialini’, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca , Piazza della Scienza 3, I-20126 Milano, Italy
- Madalyn E. Weston
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri-Kansas City , Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acacff
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 944,
no. 2
p. 141
Abstract
The study of galaxy evolution hinges on our ability to interpret multiwavelength galaxy observations in terms of their physical properties. To do this, we rely on spectral energy distribution (SED) models, which allow us to infer physical parameters from spectrophotometric data. In recent years, thanks to wide and deep multiwave band galaxy surveys, the volume of high-quality data have significantly increased. Alongside the increased data, algorithms performing SED fitting have improved, including better modeling prescriptions, newer templates, and more extensive sampling in wavelength space. We present a comprehensive analysis of different SED-fitting codes including their methods and output with the aim of measuring the uncertainties caused by the modeling assumptions. We apply 14 of the most commonly used SED-fitting codes on samples from the CANDELS photometric catalogs at z ∼ 1 and z ∼ 3. We find agreement on the stellar mass, while we observe some discrepancies in the star formation rate (SFR) and dust-attenuation results. To explore the differences and biases among the codes, we explore the impact of the various modeling assumptions as they are set in the codes (e.g., star formation histories, nebular, dust and active galactic nucleus models) on the derived stellar masses, SFRs, and A _V values. We then assess the difference among the codes on the SFR–stellar mass relation and we measure the contribution to the uncertainties by the modeling choices (i.e., the modeling uncertainties) in stellar mass (∼0.1 dex), SFR (∼0.3 dex), and dust attenuation (∼0.3 mag). Finally, we present some resources summarizing best practices in SED fitting.
Keywords
