Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass Galaxies
The stellar masses of galaxies are measured from integrated light via several methods—however, few of these methods were designed for low-mass ( M _⋆ ≲ 10 ^8 M _⊙ ) “dwarf” galaxies, whose properties (e.g., stochastic star formation, low metallicity) pose unique challenges for estimating stellar mas...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade4c5 |
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| author | Mithi A. C. de los Reyes Yasmeen Asali Risa H. Wechsler Marla Geha Yao-Yuan Mao Erin Kado-Fong Ragadeepika Pucha William Grant Pratik J. Gandhi Viraj Manwadkar Anna Engelhardt Ferah Munshi Yunchong Wang |
| author_facet | Mithi A. C. de los Reyes Yasmeen Asali Risa H. Wechsler Marla Geha Yao-Yuan Mao Erin Kado-Fong Ragadeepika Pucha William Grant Pratik J. Gandhi Viraj Manwadkar Anna Engelhardt Ferah Munshi Yunchong Wang |
| author_sort | Mithi A. C. de los Reyes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The stellar masses of galaxies are measured from integrated light via several methods—however, few of these methods were designed for low-mass ( M _⋆ ≲ 10 ^8 M _⊙ ) “dwarf” galaxies, whose properties (e.g., stochastic star formation, low metallicity) pose unique challenges for estimating stellar masses. In this work, we quantify the precision and accuracy at which stellar masses of low-mass galaxies can be recovered using UV/optical/IR photometry. We use mock observations of 469 low-mass galaxies from a variety of models, including both semi-empirical models (GRUMPY and UniverseMachine-SAGA) and cosmological baryonic zoom-in simulations (MARVELous Dwarfs and FIRE-2), to test literature color– M _⋆ / L relations and multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) mass estimators. We identify a list of “best practices” for measuring stellar masses of low-mass galaxies from integrated photometry. We find that literature color– M _⋆ / L relations are often unable to capture the bursty star formation histories (SFHs) of low-mass galaxies, and we develop an updated prescription for stellar mass based on g − r color that is better able to recover stellar masses for the bursty low-mass galaxies in our sample (with ∼0.1 dex precision). SED fitting can also precisely recover stellar masses of low-mass galaxies, but this requires thoughtful choices about the form of the assumed SFH: Parametric SFHs can underestimate stellar mass by as much as ∼0.4 dex, while nonparametric SFHs recover true stellar masses with insignificant offset (−0.03 ± 0.11 dex). Finally, we also caution that noninformative (wide) dust attenuation priors may introduce M _⋆ uncertainties of up to ∼0.6 dex. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5bee7900a58f4601afc58fbf78f714ee |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-5bee7900a58f4601afc58fbf78f714ee2025-08-20T03:59:25ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198919110.3847/1538-4357/ade4c5Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass GalaxiesMithi A. C. de los Reyes0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4739-046XYasmeen Asali1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8320-2198Risa H. Wechsler2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2229-011XMarla Geha3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7007-9725Yao-Yuan Mao4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1200-0820Erin Kado-Fong5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0332-177XRagadeepika Pucha6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4940-3009William Grant7Pratik J. Gandhi8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0965-605XViraj Manwadkar9Anna Engelhardt10Ferah Munshi11Yunchong Wang12https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8913-626XDepartment of Physics & Astronomy, Amherst College , 6 East Drive, Amherst, MA 01002, USA ; mdelosreyes@amherst.eduDepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USAKavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, Stanford University , 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Physics, Stanford University , 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USADepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USADepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, Amherst College , 6 East Drive, Amherst, MA 01002, USA ; mdelosreyes@amherst.eduDepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California—Davis , One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USAKavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, Stanford University , 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Physics, Stanford University , 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USADepartment of Physics, George Mason University , 4400 University Dr, Fairfax, VA 22030, USADepartment of Physics, George Mason University , 4400 University Dr, Fairfax, VA 22030, USAKavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, Stanford University , 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Physics, Stanford University , 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USAThe stellar masses of galaxies are measured from integrated light via several methods—however, few of these methods were designed for low-mass ( M _⋆ ≲ 10 ^8 M _⊙ ) “dwarf” galaxies, whose properties (e.g., stochastic star formation, low metallicity) pose unique challenges for estimating stellar masses. In this work, we quantify the precision and accuracy at which stellar masses of low-mass galaxies can be recovered using UV/optical/IR photometry. We use mock observations of 469 low-mass galaxies from a variety of models, including both semi-empirical models (GRUMPY and UniverseMachine-SAGA) and cosmological baryonic zoom-in simulations (MARVELous Dwarfs and FIRE-2), to test literature color– M _⋆ / L relations and multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) mass estimators. We identify a list of “best practices” for measuring stellar masses of low-mass galaxies from integrated photometry. We find that literature color– M _⋆ / L relations are often unable to capture the bursty star formation histories (SFHs) of low-mass galaxies, and we develop an updated prescription for stellar mass based on g − r color that is better able to recover stellar masses for the bursty low-mass galaxies in our sample (with ∼0.1 dex precision). SED fitting can also precisely recover stellar masses of low-mass galaxies, but this requires thoughtful choices about the form of the assumed SFH: Parametric SFHs can underestimate stellar mass by as much as ∼0.4 dex, while nonparametric SFHs recover true stellar masses with insignificant offset (−0.03 ± 0.11 dex). Finally, we also caution that noninformative (wide) dust attenuation priors may introduce M _⋆ uncertainties of up to ∼0.6 dex.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade4c5Dwarf galaxiesGalaxiesGalaxy photometryGalaxy masses |
| spellingShingle | Mithi A. C. de los Reyes Yasmeen Asali Risa H. Wechsler Marla Geha Yao-Yuan Mao Erin Kado-Fong Ragadeepika Pucha William Grant Pratik J. Gandhi Viraj Manwadkar Anna Engelhardt Ferah Munshi Yunchong Wang Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass Galaxies The Astrophysical Journal Dwarf galaxies Galaxies Galaxy photometry Galaxy masses |
| title | Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass Galaxies |
| title_full | Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass Galaxies |
| title_fullStr | Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass Galaxies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass Galaxies |
| title_short | Stellar Mass Calibrations for Local Low-mass Galaxies |
| title_sort | stellar mass calibrations for local low mass galaxies |
| topic | Dwarf galaxies Galaxies Galaxy photometry Galaxy masses |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade4c5 |
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