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arXiv 0910.1591astro-ph.COastro-ph.IM
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来自星系光谱的恒星质光比:它们能有多精确?

Stellar mass-to-light ratios from galaxy spectra: how accurate can they be?

Anna Gallazzi, Eric F. Bell

摘要:

恒星质量在探索星系性质和星系种群演化中起着至关重要的作用。在本文中,我们探讨了最小可能的不确定性恒星的质量,光(M/L)比从假设的恒星形成历史(SFH)和金属丰度分布,提供一个最低限度的观测研究的要求的目标。我们使用一个大型的Monte Carlo库SFHS研究作为星系光谱类型和信噪比(S/N)的函数的M/L值的统计不确定性使用吸收线数据或宽带颜色。M/L估计的准确性可以显着提高通过使用金属敏感指数结合年龄敏感指数,特别是对于具有中等年龄或年轻的恒星星族的星系。虽然M/L精度明显取决于光谱S/N比,但在将S/N提高到50/pix以上方面没有显著的增益,并且达到了0.03 dex的极限不确定度。假设尘埃被精确地校正或不存在,并且红移是已知的,基于颜色的M/L估计只比光谱估计稍微更不确定(在可比的光谱和光度质量下),但更容易受到系统偏差的影响。特别是对于具有爆发性SFH(在固定D4000处具有高Hdelta)的星系,其M/L不能被约束为优于0.15 dex的任何指标。最后,我们探讨了假设的先验分布在SFHS和金属丰度的影响,发现它们是基于颜色的估计更高。

英文摘要:

Stellar masses play a crucial role in the exploration of galaxy properties and the evolution of the galaxy population. In this paper, we explore the minimum possible uncertainties in stellar mass-to-light (M/L) ratios from the assumed star formation history (SFH) and metallicity distribution, with the goals of providing a minimum set of requirements for observational studies. We use a large Monte Carlo library of SFHs to study as a function of galaxy spectral type and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) the statistical uncertainties of M/L values using either absorption-line data or broad band colors. The accuracy of M/L estimates can be significantly improved by using metal-sensitive indices in combination with age-sensitive indices, in particular for galaxies with intermediate-age or young stellar populations. While M/L accuracy clearly depends on the spectral S/N ratio, there is no significant gain in improving the S/N much above 50/pix and limiting uncertainties of 0.03 dex are reached. Assuming that dust is accurately corrected or absent and that the redshift is known, color-based M/L estimates are only slightly more uncertain than spectroscopic estimates (at comparable spectroscopic and photometric quality), but are more easily affected by systematic biases. This is the case in particular for galaxies with bursty SFHs (high Hdelta at fixed D4000), the M/L of which cannot be constrained any better than 0.15 dex with any indicators explored here. Finally, we explore the effects of the assumed prior distribution in SFHs and metallicity, finding them to be higher for color-based estimates.

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