Assumed Star Formation History Research Articles

The ALMA REBELS Survey: specific star formation rates in the reionization era

ABSTRACT We present specific star formation rates (sSFRs) for 40 ultraviolet (UV)-bright galaxies at z ∼ 7–8 observed as part of the Reionization Era Bright Emission Line Survey (REBELS) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) large programme. The sSFRs are derived using improved star formation rate (SFR) calibrations and spectral energy distribution (SED)-based stellar masses, made possible by measurements of far-infrared (FIR) continuum emission and [C ii]-based spectroscopic redshifts. The median sSFR of the sample is $18_{-5}^{+7}$ Gyr−1, significantly larger than literature measurements lacking constraints in the FIR, reflecting the larger obscured SFRs derived from the dust continuum relative to that implied by the UV+optical SED. We suggest that such differences may reflect spatial variations in dust across these luminous galaxies, with the component dominating the FIR distinct from that dominating the UV. We demonstrate that the inferred stellar masses (and hence sSFRs) are strongly dependent on the assumed star formation history in reionization-era galaxies. When large sSFR galaxies (a population that is common at z > 6) are modelled with non-parametric star formation histories, the derived stellar masses can increase by an order of magnitude relative to constant star formation models, owing to the presence of a significant old stellar population that is outshined by the recent burst. The [C ii] line widths in the largest sSFR systems are often very broad, suggesting dynamical masses capable of accommodating an old stellar population suggested by non-parametric models. Regardless of these systematic uncertainties among derived parameters, we find that sSFRs increase rapidly toward higher redshifts for massive galaxies (9.6 < log (M*/M⊙) < 9.8), evolving as (1 + z)1.7 ± 0.3, broadly consistent with expectations from the evolving baryon accretion rates.

How Well Can We Measure the Stellar Mass of a Galaxy: The Impact of the Assumed Star Formation History Model in SED Fitting

Abstract The primary method for inferring the stellar mass (M *) of a galaxy is through spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling. However, the technique rests on assumptions such as the galaxy star formation history (SFH) and dust attenuation law that can severely impact the accuracy of derived physical properties from SED modeling. Here we examine the effect that the assumed SFH has on the stellar properties inferred from SED fitting by ground-truthing them against mock observations of high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulations. Classically, SFHs are modeled with simplified parameterized functional forms, but these forms are unlikely to capture the true diversity of galaxy SFHs and may impose systematic biases with underreported uncertainties on results. We demonstrate that flexible nonparametric SFHs outperform traditional parametric forms in capturing variations in galaxy SFHs and, as a result, lead to significantly improved stellar masses in SED fitting. We find a decrease in the average bias of 0.4 dex with a delayed-τ model to a bias under 0.1 dex for the nonparametric model, though this is heavily dependent on the choice of prior for the nonparametric model. Similarly, using nonparametric SFHs in SED fitting results in increased accuracy in recovered galaxy star formation rates and stellar ages.

The radio pulsar population of the Small Magellanic Cloud

ABSTRACT We model the present-day, observable, normal radio pulsar population of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The pulsars are generated with SeBa, a binary population synthesis code that evolves binaries and the constituent stellar objects up to remnant formation and beyond. We define radio pulsars by selecting neutron stars (NSs) that satisfy a selection of criteria defined by Galactic pulsars, and apply the detection thresholds of previous and future SMC pulsar surveys. The number of synthesized and recovered pulsars is exceptionally sensitive to the assumed star formation history and applied radio luminosity model, but is not affected extensively by the assumed common-envelope model, metallicity, and NS kick velocity distribution. We estimate that the SMC formed (1.6 ± 0.3) ×104 normal pulsars during the last 100 Myr. We study which pulsars could have been observed by the Parkes multibeam survey of the SMC, by applying the survey’s specific selection effects, and recover 4.0 ± 0.8 synthetic pulsars. This is in agreement with their five observed pulsars. We also apply a proposed MeerKAT configuration for the upcoming SMC survey, and predict that the MeerKAT survey will detect 17.2 ± 2.5 pulsars.

Metallicity of stars formed throughout the cosmic history based on the observational properties of star-forming galaxies

ABSTRACT Metallicity is one of the crucial factors that determine stellar evolution. To characterize the properties of stellar populations one needs to know the fraction of stars forming at different metallicities. Knowing how this fraction evolves over time is necessary e.g. to estimate the rates of occurrence of any stellar evolution related phenomena (e.g. double compact object mergers, gamma-ray bursts). Such theoretical estimates can be confronted with observational limits to validate the assumptions about the evolution of the progenitor system leading to a certain transient. However, to perform the comparison correctly one needs to know the uncertainties related to the assumed star formation history and chemical evolution of the Universe. We combine the empirical scaling relations and other observational properties of the star-forming galaxies to construct the distribution of the cosmic star formation rate density at different metallicities and redshifts. We address the question of uncertainty of this distribution due to currently unresolved questions, such as the absolute metallicity scale, the flattening in the star formation−mass relation or the low-mass end of the galaxy mass function. We find that the fraction of stellar mass formed at metallicities <10 per cent solar (>solar) since z = 3 varies by ∼18 per cent (∼26 per cent) between the extreme cases considered in our study. This uncertainty stems primarily from the differences in the mass–metallicity relations obtained with different methods. We confront our results with the local core-collapse supernovae observations. Our model is publicly available.

Implications of the cosmic infrared background excess for the cosmic star formation

By phenomenologically describing the high-redshift star formation history, i.e., \(\dot \rho _ * \left( z \right) \propto \left[ {{{\left( {1 + z} \right)} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\left( {1 + z} \right)} {4.5}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {4.5}}} \right]^{ - \alpha }\), and semi-analytically calculating the fractions of high-redshift Pop I/II and Pop III stars, we investigate the contributions from both high-redshfit Pop I/II and Pop III stars to the observed near-infrared (3 μm < λ < 5 μm) excess in the cosmic infrared background emission. In order to account for the observational level of the near-infrared excess, the power-law index α of the assumed star formation history is constrained to within the range of 0 ≲ α ≲ 1. Such a constraint is obtained under the condition that the viral temperature of dark matter halos belongs to the range of 500 K ⩽ T vir ⩽ 104 K.

STELLAR MASS-TO-LIGHT RATIOS FROM GALAXY SPECTRA: HOW ACCURATE CAN THEY BE?

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.