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 AV 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.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acacff
Funding Information
We thank the anonymous referee for their very constructive report. We thank the University of California, Riverside for hosting the workshop where this work started. The workshop was supported by National Science Foundation funding. This paper does not reflect the views or opinions of the National Science Foundation or the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). We thank Audrey Galametz, Joel Primack, and Meaghann Stoelting for insightful conversations. C.P. was supported by the Canadian Space Agency under a contract with NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics. Support for K.I. was provided by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant No. HST-HF2-51508 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. Support for V.P. was provided by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant No. HST-HF2-51489 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. M.B. acknowledges support from FONDECYT regular grant No. 1211000 and by the ANID BASAL project FB210003. K.M. is grateful for support from the Polish National Science Centre via grant No. UMO-2018/30/E/ST9/00082. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
Repository Citation
Pacifici, Camilla; Iyer, Kartheik G.; Mobasher, Bahram; da Cunha, Elisabete; Acquaviva, Viviana; Burgarella, Denis; Rivera, Gabriela Calistro; Carnall, Adam C.; Chang, Yu-Yen; Chartab, Nima; Cooke, Kevin C.; Fairhurst, Ciaran; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan; Leja, Joel; Małek, Katarzyna; Salmon, Brett; Torelli, Marianna; Vidal-García, Alba; Boquien, Médéric; Brammer, Gabriel B.; Brown, Michael J. I.; Capak, Peter L.; Chevallard, Jacopo; Circosta, Chiara; Croton, Darren; Davidzon, Iary; Dickinson, Mark; Duncan, Kenneth J.; Faber, Sandra M.; Ferguson, Harry C.; Fontana, Adriano; Guo, Yicheng; Haeussler, Boris; Hemmati, Shoubaneh; Jafariyazani, Marziye; Kassin, Susan A.; Larson, Rebecca L.; Lee, Bomee; Mantha, Kameswara Bharadwaj; Marchi, Francesca; Nayyeri, Hooshang; Newman, Jeffrey A.; Pandya, Viraj; Pforr, Janine; Reddy, Naveen; Sanders, Ryan L.; Shah, Ekta; Shahidi, Abtin; Stevans, Matthew L.; Triani, Dian Puspita; Tyler, Krystal D.; Vanderhoof, Brittany N.; de la Vega, Alexander; Wang, Weichen; and Weston, Madalyn E., "The Art of Measuring Physical Parameters in Galaxies: A Critical Assessment of Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting Techniques" (2023). Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications. 702.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/physastron_facpub/702
Notes/Citation Information
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.