Spectra Of Stellar Populations Research Articles

On the impact of spectral template uncertainties in synthetic stellar populations

ABSTRACTUncertainties in stellar population models, both in terms of stellar evolution and stellar spectra, translate into uncertainties in our interpretation of stellar populations in galaxies, since stars are the source of most of the light we receive from them. Observations by JWST are revealing high-redshift galaxies in great detail, which must then be compared to models. One significant source of uncertainty is in the stellar spectra used to generate composite spectra of stellar populations, which are then compared to data. Confidence in theoretical models is important to enable reliable determination of the properties of these galaxies such as their ages and star formation history. Here, we present a comparison of spectral synthesis carried out with six different stellar spectral libraries using the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis framework. In photometric colours, the differences between theoretical libraries are relatively small (<0.10 mag), similar to typical observational uncertainties on individual galaxy observations. Differences become more pronounced when detailed spectroscopic properties are examined. Predictions for spectral line indices can vary significantly, with equivalent widths differing by a factor of 2 in some cases. With these index strengths, some of the libraries yield predictions of ages and metallicities which are unphysical. Many spectral libraries lack wavelength coverage in the ultraviolet, which is of growing importance in the era of JWST observations of distant galaxies, whose flux is dominated by hot, young stars.

Wolf-Rayet Galaxies in SDSS-IV MaNGA. II. Metallicity Dependence of the High-mass Slope of the Stellar Initial Mass Function

Abstract As hosts of living high-mass stars, Wolf-Rayet (WR) regions or WR galaxies are ideal objects for constraining the high-mass end of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). We construct a large sample of 910 WR galaxies/regions that cover a wide range of stellar metallicity (from Z ∼ 0.001 to 0.03) by combining three catalogs of WR galaxies/regions previously selected from the SDSS and SDSS-IV/MaNGA surveys. We measure the equivalent widths of the WR blue bump at ∼4650 Å for each spectrum. They are compared with predictions from stellar evolutionary models Starburst99 and BPASS, with different IMF assumptions (high-mass slope α of the IMF ranging from 1.0 to 3.3). Both singular evolution and binary evolution are considered. We also use a Bayesian inference code to perform full spectral fitting to WR spectra with stellar population spectra from BPASS as fitting templates. We then make a model selection among different α assumptions based on Bayesian evidence. These analyses have consistently led to a positive correlation of the IMF high-mass slope α with stellar metallicity Z, i.e., with a steeper IMF (more bottom-heavy) at higher metallicities. Specifically, an IMF with α = 1.00 is preferred at the lowest metallicity (Z ∼ 0.001), and an Salpeter or even steeper IMF is preferred at the highest metallicity (Z ∼ 0.03). These conclusions hold even when binary population models are adopted.

Galaxy Look-back Evolution Models: A Comparison with Magneticum Cosmological Simulations and Observations

Abstract We construct empirical models of star-forming galaxy evolution assuming that individual galaxies evolve along well-known scaling relations between stellar mass, gas mass, and star formation rate following a simple description of chemical evolution. We test these models by a comparison with observations and detailed Magneticum high-resolution hydrodynamic cosmological simulations. Galaxy star formation rates, stellar masses, gas masses, ages, interstellar medium, and stellar metallicities are compared. It is found that these simple look-back models capture many of the crucial aspects of galaxy evolution reasonably well. Their key assumption of a redshift-dependent power-law relationship between galaxy interstellar medium gas mass and stellar mass is in agreement with the outcome of the complex Magneticum simulations. Star formation rates decline toward lower redshift not because galaxies are running out of gas, but because the fraction of the cold interstellar medium gas, which is capable of producing stars, becomes significantly smaller. Gas accretion rates in both model approaches are of the same order of magnitude. Metallicity in the Magneticum simulations increases with the ratio of stellar mass to gas mass as predicted by the look-back models. The mass–metallicity relationships agree, and the star formation rate dependence of these relationships is also reproduced. We conclude that these simple models provide a powerful tool for constraining and interpreting more complex models based on cosmological simulations and for population synthesis studies analyzing the integrated spectra of stellar populations.

The impact of stars stripped in binaries on the integrated spectra of stellar populations

Stars stripped of their envelopes from interaction with a binary companion emit a significant fraction of their radiation as ionizing photons. They are potentially important stellar sources of ionizing radiation, however, they are still often neglected in spectral synthesis simulations or simulations of stellar feedback. In anticipating the large datasets of galaxy spectra from the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, we modeled the radiative contribution from stripped stars by using detailed evolutionary and spectral models. We estimated their impact on the integrated spectra and specifically on the emission rates of H I-, He I-, and He II-ionizing photons from stellar populations. We find that stripped stars have the largest impact on the ionizing spectrum of a population in which star formation halted several Myr ago. In such stellar populations, stripped stars dominate the emission of ionizing photons, mimicking a younger stellar population in which massive stars are still present. Our models also suggest that stripped stars have harder ionizing spectra than massive stars. The additional ionizing radiation, with which stripped stars contribute affects observable properties that are related to the emission of ionizing photons from stellar populations. In co-eval stellar populations, the ionizing radiation from stripped stars increases the ionization parameter and the production efficiency of hydrogen ionizing photons. They also cause high values for these parameters for about ten times longer than what is predicted for massive stars. The effect on properties related to non-ionizing wavelengths is less pronounced, such as on the ultraviolet continuum slope or stellar contribution to emission lines. However, the hard ionizing radiation from stripped stars likely introduces a characteristic ionization structure of the nebula, which leads to the emission of highly ionized elements such as O2+ and C3+. We, therefore, expect that the presence of stripped stars affects the location in the BPT diagram and the diagnostic ratio of O III to O II nebular emission lines. Our models are publicly available through CDS database and on the STARBURST99 website.

NLTE modelling of integrated light spectra

Aims.We study the effects of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) on the abundance analysis of barium, magnesium, and manganese from integrated light spectroscopy, as typically applied to the analysis of extra-galactic star clusters and galaxies. In this paper, our reference object is a synthetic simple stellar population (SSP) representing a mono-metallicα-enhanced globular cluster with the metallicity [Fe/H] = −2.0 and the age of 11 Gyr.Methods.We used the MULTI2.3 program to compute LTE and NLTE equivalent widths of spectral lines of Mg I, Mn I, and Ba II ions, which are commonly used in abundance analyses of extra-galactic stellar populations. We used ATLAS12 model atmospheres for stellar parameters sampled from a model isochrone to represent individual stars in the model SSP. The NLTE and LTE equivalent widths calculated for the individual stars were combined to calculate the SSP NLTE corrections.Results.We find that the NLTE abundance corrections for the integrated light spectra of the metal-poor globular cluster are significant in many cases, and often exceed 0.1 dex. In particular, LTE abundances of Mn are consistently under-estimated by 0.3 dex for all optical lines of Mn I studied in this work. On the other hand, Ba II, and Mg I lines show a strong differential effect: the NLTE abundance corrections for the individual stars and integrated light spectra are close to zero for the low-excitation lines, but they amount to − 0.15 dex for the strong high-excitation lines. Our results emphasise the need to take NLTE effects into account in the analysis of spectra of individual stars and integrated light spectra of stellar populations.

Surface Brightness Fluctuations for constraining the chemical enrichment of massive galaxies

AbstractBased on very deep photometry, Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) have been traditionally used to determine galaxy distances. We have recently computed SBF spectra of stellar populations at moderately high resolution, which are fully based on empirical stars. We show that the SBF spectra provide an unprecedented potential for stellar population studies that, so far, have been tackled on the basis of the mean fluxes. We find that the SBFs are able to unveil metal-poor stellar components at the one percent level, which are not possible to disentangle with the standard analysis. As these metal-poor components correspond to the first stages of the chemical enrichment, the SBF analysis provides stringent constrains on the quenching epoch.

Self-consistent population spectral synthesis with FADO

Context.Spectral population synthesis (PS) is a fundamental tool in extragalactic research that aims to decipher the assembly history of galaxies from their spectral energy distribution (SED). Whereas this technique has led to key insights into galaxy evolution in recent decades, star formation histories (SFHs) inferred therefrom have been plagued by considerable uncertainties stemming from inherent degeneracies and the fact that until recently allPScodes were restricted to purely stellar fits, neglecting the essential contribution of nebular emission (ne). With the advent ofFADO(Fitting Analysis using Differential evolution Optimisation), the now possible self-consistent modelling of stellar andneopens new routes to the exploration of galaxy SFHs.Aims.The main goal of this study is to quantitatively explore the accuracy to whichFADOcan recover physical and evolutionary properties of galaxies and compare its output with that from purely stellarPScodes.Methods.FADOandSTARLIGHTwere applied to synthetic SEDs that track the spectral evolution of stars and gas in extinction-free mock galaxies of solar metallicity that form their stellar mass (M⋆) according to different parametric SFHs. Spectral fits were computed for two different set-ups that approximate the spectral range of SDSS and CALIFA (V500) data, using up to seven libraries of simple stellar population spectra in the 0.005–2.5Z⊙metallicity range.Results.Our analysis indicates thatFADOcan recover the key physical and evolutionary properties of galaxies, such asM⋆and mass- and light-weighted mean age and metallicity, with an accuracy better than 0.2 dex. This is the case even in phases of strongly elevated specific star formation rate (sSFR) and thus with considerablenecontamination (EW(Hα) > 103Å). Likewise, population vectors fromFADOadequately recover the mass fraction of stars younger than 10 Myr and older than 1 Gyr (M⋆<10Myr/M⋆totalandM⋆>1Gyr/M⋆total, respectively) and reproduce with a high fidelity the observed Hαluminosity. As forSTARLIGHT, our analysis documents a moderately good agreement with theoretical values only for evolutionary phases for whichnedrops to low levels (EW(Hα) ≤ 60 Å) which, depending on the assumed SFH, correspond to an age between ∼0.1 Gyr and 2–4 Gyr. However, fits withSTARLIGHTduring phases of high sSFR severely overestimate bothM⋆and the mass-weighted stellar age, whereas strongly underestimate the light-weighted age and metallicity. Furthermore, our analysis suggests a subtle tendency ofSTARLIGHTto favour a bi-modal SFH, as well a slightly overestimatedM⋆<10Myr/M⋆total, regardless of galaxy age. Whereas the amplitude of these biases can be reduced, depending on the specifics of the fitting procedure (e.g. accuracy and completeness of flagging emission lines, omission of the Balmer and Paschen jump from the fit), they persist even in the idealised case of a line-free SED comprising only stellar and nebular continuum emission.Conclusions.The insights from this study suggest that the neglect of nebular continuum emission inSTARLIGHTand similar purely stellarPScodes could systematically impactM⋆and SFH estimates for star-forming galaxies. We argue that these biases can be relevant in the study of a range of topics in extragalactic research, including the redshift-dependent slope of the star formation (SF) main sequence, the SF frosting hypothesis, and the regulatory role of supermassive black holes on the global SFH of galaxies.

Galactic interaction as the trigger for the young radio galaxy MRC B1221−423★

Mergers between a massive galaxy and a small gas-rich companion (minor mergers) have been proposed as a viable mechanism for triggering radio emission in an active galaxy. Until now the problem has been catching this sequence of events as they occur. With MRC B1221$-$423 we have an active radio galaxy that has only recently been triggered, and a companion galaxy that provides the "smoking gun". Using spectroscopic data taken with the VIMOS Integral Field Unit detector on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, we have examined the distribution, ionization state and kinematics of ionized gas in this interacting system. We have also modelled the stellar continuum with synthesised spectra of stellar populations of different ages. From our study of the ionized gas, we have derived preliminary models for the geometry of the interaction, analysed the kinematic behaviour of the ionized gas, and examined the ionization mechanisms at work throughout the system. Our modelling of the stellar continuum allowed us to identify and date distinct stellar populations within the galaxy pair. We find evidence of multiple episodes of widespread starburst activity, and by dating these populations, we provide tentative insight into the history of the interaction.

Probing the peak of the star formation rate density with the extragalactic background light

The extragalactic background light (EBL), i.e., the diffuse meta-galactic photon field in the ultraviolet to infrared, is dominated by the emission from stars in galaxies. It is, therefore, intimately connected with the integrated star formation rate density (SFRD). In this paper, the SFRD is constrained using recent limits on the EBL density derived from observations of distant sources of high and very-high energy gamma-rays. The stellar EBL contribution is modeled utilizing simple stellar population spectra including dust attenuation and emission. For modeling the SFRD up to z=4 a broken power law function in z+1 is assumed. A wide range of values for the different model parameters (SFRD(z), metallicity, dust absorption) is investigated and their impact on the resulting EBL is studied. The calculated EBL densities are compared with the specific EBL density limits and constraints on the SFRD are derived. For the fiducial model, adopting a Chabrier initial mass function (IMF) and a second power law index for the SFRD of beta=0.3, the SFRD is constrained to <~ 0.1 M_solar yr^-1 Mpc^-3 and < 0.2 M_solar yr^-1 Mpc^-3 for a redshift of z~1 and z~2, respectively. The limits for a redshift of z~1 are in tension with SFRD measurements derived from instantaneous star formation tracers. While the tension for the conservative fiducial model in this study is not yet overly strong, the tension increases when applying plausible changes to the model parameters, e.g., using a Salpeter instead of a Chabrier IMF or a adopting a sub-solar metallicity.

Spectral Evolution of Field Galaxies

For the purpose of analyzing the spectral evolution of stellar population, we derive spectral energy distributions of simple stellar population in different ages from GALAXEV. Then, from stellar populations spectra, physical parameters are obtained for observational spectra of galaxies in the wavelength range from 3200 Å to 9500 Å. We use spectral data of Coleman and Wu for plotting the spectra of four types of galaxies. These observational data are combined and averaged from different sources; also they are extrapolated to high redshifts. In addition, we plot 16 synthesized spectra by considering Salpeter Initial Mass Function (IMF), exponential and constant Star Formation Rate (SFR) and solar metallicity for all spectra. Comparing the observational spectra with stellar population spectra, we analyze the age distribution for elliptical, irregular and two types of spiral field galaxies and obtain age and time scale parameters for each.

Spectral models of stellar populations resolved in chemical abundances

AbstractWe present model spectra of stellar populations with variable chemical composition. We derived the [α/Fe] abundance ratio of the stars of the most important libraries (ELODIE, CFLIB and MILES) using full spectrum fitting and we generated PEGASE.HR models resolved in [α/Fe]. We used a semi-empirical approach that combines the observed spectra with synthetic stellar spectra. We tested the models using them to derive [α/Fe] in galaxies and star clusters using full spectrum fitting. The present models are available from http://ulyss.univ-lyon1.fr

Grids of ATLAS9 Model Atmospheres and MOOG Synthetic Spectra

ABSTRACTA grid of ATLAS9 model atmospheres has been computed, spanning 3500 K ≤ Teff ≤ 8000 K, 0.0 ≤ log g ≤ 5.0, -4.0 ≤ [M/H] ≤ 0.0, and -0.8 ≤ [α/Fe] ≤ +1.2. These parameters are appropriate for old stars in the red giant branch, subgiant branch, and the lower main sequence. The main difference from a previous similar grid is the range of [α/Fe] values. A grid of synthetic spectra, calculated from the model atmospheres, is also presented. The fluxes are computed every 0.02 Å from 6300 Å to 9100 Å. The microturbulent velocity is given by a relation to the surface gravity. This relation is appropriate for red giants, but not for subgiants or dwarfs. Therefore, caution is urged for the synthetic spectra with log g > 3.5 or for any star that is not a red giant. Both the model atmosphere and synthetic spectrum grids are available online through VizieR. Applications of these grids include abundance analysis for large samples of stellar spectra and constructing composite spectra for stellar populations.

Population synthesis modelling of luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshift

Luminous InfraRed Galaxies (LIRGs) are particularly important for studying the build-up of the stellar mass from z=1 to z=0. We perform a multiwavelength study of an LIRGs sample in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South at z=0.7, selected at 24 \mu\m by MIPS onboard Spitzer Space Telescope and detected in 17 filters. Data go from the near-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared. This multiwavelengths dataset allows us to place strong constraints on the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies, and thus to efficiently derive physical parameters such as the SFR, the total infrared luminosity, attenuation parameters, and star formation history. An important part of this work is elaboration of a mock catalogue that allows us to have a reliability criterion for the derived parameters. We studied LIRGs by means of an SED-fitting code CIGALE. At first, this code creates synthetic spectra from the Maraston stellar population models. The stellar population spectra are attenuated by using a synthetic Calzetti-based attenuation law before adding the dust emission as given by the infrared SED library. The originality of CIGALE is that it allows us to perform consistent fits of the dust-affected ultaviolet-to-infrared wavelength range. This technique appears to be a very powerful tool in the case where we can have access to a dataset that is well-sampled over a wide range of wavelengths. We are able to derive a star formation history and to estimate the fraction of infrared luminosity reprocessed by an active galactic nucleus. We study the dust temperatures of our galaxies detected at 70 \mu\m and find them colder than predicted by models. We also study the relation between the SFR and the stellar mass and do not find a tight correlation between either of them, but instead a flat distribution and a large scatter, which is interpreted in terms of variations in star formation history.

Coudé-feed stellar spectral library – atmospheric parameters

Context: Empirical libraries of stellar spectra play an important role in different fields. For example, they are used as reference for the automatic determination of atmospheric parameters, or for building synthetic stellar populations to study galaxies. The CFLIB (Coude-feed library, Indo-US) database is at present one of the most complete libraries, in terms of its coverage of the atmospheric parameters space (Teff, log g and [Fe/H]) and wavelength coverage 3460 - 9464 A at a resolution of 1 A FWHM. Although the atmospheric parameters of most of the stars were determined from detailed analyses of high-resolution spectra, for nearly 300 of the 1273 stars of the library at least one of the three parameters is missing. For the others, the measurements, compiled from the literature, are inhomogeneous. Aims: In this paper, we re-determine the atmospheric parameters, directly using the CFLIB spectra, and compare them to the previous studies. Methods: We use the ULySS program to derive the atmospheric parameters, using the ELODIE library as a reference. Results: Based on comparisons with several previous studies we conclude that our determinations are unbiased. For the 958 F,G, and K type stars the precision on Teff, log g, and [Fe/H] is respectively 43 K, 0.13 dex and 0.05 dex. For the 53 M stars they are 82 K, 0.22 dex and 0.28 dex. And, for the 260 OBA type stars the relative precision on Teff is 5.1%, and on log g, and [Fe/H] the precision is respectively 0.19 dex and 0.16 dex. These parameters will be used to re-calibrate the CFLIB fluxes and to produce synthetic spectra of stellar populations.

Empirical calibrations of optical absorption-line indices based on the stellar library MILES

Stellar population models of absorption line indices are an important tool for the analysis of stellar population spectra. They are most accurately modelled through empirical calibrations of absorption line indices with the stellar parameters effective temperature, metallicity, and surface gravity, the so-called fitting functions. Here we present new empirical fitting functions for the 25 optical Lick absorption line indices based on the new stellar library MILES. The major improvements with respect to the Lick/IDS library are the better sampling of stellar parameter space, a generally higher signal- to-noise, and a careful flux calibration. In fact we find that errors on individual index measurements in MILES are considerably smaller than in Lick/IDS. Instead we find the rms of the residuals between the final fitting functions and the data to be dominated by errors in the stellar parameters. We provide fitting functions for both Lick/IDS and MILES spectral resolutions, and compare our results with other fitting functions in the literature. A Fortran 90 code is available online in order to simplify the implementation in stellar population models. We further calculate the offsets in index measurements between the Lick/IDS system to a flux calibrated system. For this purpose we use the three libraries MILES, ELODIE, and STELIB. We find that offsets are negligible in some cases, most notably for the widely used indices Hbeta, Mgb, Fe5270, and Fe5335. In a number of cases, however, the difference between flux calibrated library and Lick/IDS is significant with the offsets depending on index strengths. Interestingly, there is no general agreement between the three libraries for a large number of indices, which hampers the derivation of a universal offset between the Lick/IDS and flux calibrated systems.

Spectral population synthesis including massive binaries

We have constructed a new code to produce synthetic spectra of stellar populations that includes massive binaries. We have tested this code against the broadband colours of unresolved young massive stellar clusters in nearby galaxies, the equivalent widths of the Red and Blue Wolf-Rayet bumps in star-forming SDSS galaxies and the UV and optical spectra of the star forming regions Tol-A and B in NGC5398. In each case we find a good agreement between our models and observations. We find that in general binary populations are bluer and have fewer red supergiants, and thus significantly less flux in the I-band and at longer wavelengths, than single star populations. Also we find that Wolf-Rayet stars occur over a wider range of ages up to 10^7 years in a stellar population including binaries, increasing the UV flux and Wolf-Rayet spectral features at later times. In addition we find that nebula emission contributes significantly to these observed properties and must be considered when comparing stellar models with observations of unresolved stellar populations. We conclude that incorporation of massive stellar binaries can improve the agreement between observations and synthetic spectral synthesis codes, particularly for systems with young stellar populations.

The impact of binary-star yields on the spectra of galaxies

One of the complexities in modelling integrated spectra of stellar populations is the effect of interacting binary stars besides type Ia supernovae (SNeIa). These include common envelope systems, CVs, novae, and are usually ignored in models predicting the chemistry and spectral absorption line strengths in galaxies. In this paper predictions of chemical yields from populations of single and binary stars are incorporated into a galactic chemical evolution model to explore the significance of the effects of these other binary yields. Effects on spectral line strengths from different progenitor channels of SNeIa are also explored. Small systematic effects are found when the yields from binaries, other than SNeIa, are included, for a given star formation history. These effects are, at present, within the observational uncertainties on the line strengths. More serious differences can arise in considering different types of SNIa models, their rates and contributions.

Inverse population synthesis using a dynamical basis

AbstractWe introduce a new inverse population synthesis algorithm (DINBAS3D) which aims to recover the star formation and metallicity histories from galactic spectra. We investigate the use of a dynamical basis of three simple stellar population spectra that is specific for each galaxy. Our goal is to recover a robust star formation history that minimizes degeneracy effects which are very common in high resolution histories methods. In this work, we detail the method and present our findings when we apply DINBAS3D to synthetic spectra with known parameters, we compare our results with similar methods and find good agreement between them.

First stars and the extragalactic background light: how recentγ-ray observations constrain the early universe

The formation of the first stars (Population III; PopIII) marks the end of the dark ages of the universe, a subject of lively scientific debate. Not (yet) accessible to direct observations, this early stage of the universe is mostly studied via theoretical calculations and numerical simulations. An indirect window is provided by integrated present day observables such as the metal abundance or the diffuse extragalactic photon fields. We aim to derive constraints on the properties of the PopIII and low metallicity Population II (LM PopII) stars utilizing limits on the density of the extragalactic background light (EBL), recently derived from very-high-energy (E > 100 GeV; VHE) observations. A model calculation for the evolving EBL density produced by PopIII/LM PopII stars is presented. The model utilizes stellar population spectra (SPS) for zero and low metallicity stars and accounts for the changing emission of an aging stellar population. Emission from the dense HII regions surrounding the stars (nebula) is included. The resulting EBL density for different scenarios (metallicity, star formation rate, initial mass function) is compared to the limit on the EBL density. The potential for detecting a cut-off in HE/VHE spectra is discussed. Assuming a maximum contribution from PopIII/LM PopII stars to the EBL density of 5 nW m^-2 s-1 at 2 micrometer a limit on the star formation rate (SFR) of the first stars of 0.3 to 3 M_solar Mpc^-3 yr^-1 in the redshift range 7 - 14 is derived. The limit depends on the assumed shape of the SFR and metallicity.

Constraints on a Universal Stellar Initial Mass Function from Ultraviolet to Near‐Infrared Galaxy Luminosity Densities

We obtain constraints on the slope of a universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) over a range of cosmic star-formation histories (SFH) using z=0.1 luminosity densities in the range from 0.2 to 2.2 microns. The age-IMF degeneracy of integrated spectra of stellar populations can be broken for the Universe as a whole by using direct measurements of (relative) cosmic SFH from high-redshift observations. These have only marginal dependence on uncertainties in the IMF, whereas, fitting to local luminosity densities depends strongly on both cosmic SFH and the IMF. We fit to these measurements using population synthesis and find the best-fit IMF power-law slope to be Gamma=1.15+-0.2 (0.5 < M/M_solar < 120). This slope is in good agreement with the Salpeter IMF slope (Gamma=1.35). A strong upper limit of Gamma<1.7 is obtained which effectively rules out the Scalo IMF due to its too low fraction of high-mass stars. This upper limit is at the 99.7% confidence level if we assume a closed-box chemical evolution scenario and 95% if we assume constant solar metallicity. Fitting to the H-alpha line luminosity density, we obtain a best-fit IMF slope in good agreement with that derived from broadband measurements. Marginalizing over cosmic SFH and IMF slope, we obtain (95% conf. ranges, h=1): omega_stars = 1.1-2.0 E-3 for the stellar mass density; rho_sfr = 0.7-4.1 E-2 M_solar/yr/Mpc^3 for the star-formation rate density, and; rho_L = 1.2-1.7 E+35 W/Mpc^3 for the bolometric, attenuated, stellar, luminosity density (0.09-5 microns). Comparing this total stellar emission with an estimate of the total dust emission implies a relatively modest average attenuation in the UV (<=1 magnitude at 0.2 microns).