[en] A central challenge in observational studies of galaxy formation is how to associate progenitor galaxies with their descendants at lower redshifts. One promising approach is to link galaxies at fixed number density rather than fixed luminosity or mass. This method is effective if stellar mass rank order is broadly conserved through cosmic time. In this paper, we use the Guo et al. semi-analytical model to analyze under what circumstances this assumption is valid in the context of a cosmological simulation. Specifically, we select progenitor galaxies at a constant number density and compare the stellar mass evolution of their descendants to the evolution at a constant number density. The median stellar mass of the descendants increases by a factor of four (0.6 dex) from z = 3 to z = 0. Constant number density selection reproduces this to within 40% (0.15 dex) over a wide range of number densities. We show that the discrepancy primarily results from scatter in the stellar mass growth rates and merging. After applying simple, observationally based corrections for these processes, the discrepancy is reduced to 12% (0.05 dex). We conclude that number density selection can be used to predict the median descendant mass of high-redshift progenitor galaxies. The main uncertainty in this study is that semi-analytical models do not reproduce the observed mass evolution of galaxies, which makes the quantitative aggregate effects of star formation, merging, and quenching on the rank order of galaxies somewhat uncertain.

[en] Inference of the physical properties of stellar populations from observed photometry and spectroscopy is a key goal in the study of galaxy evolution. In recent years, the quality and quantity of the available data have increased, and there have been corresponding efforts to increase the realism of the stellar population models used to interpret these observations. Describing the observed galaxy spectral energy distributions in detail now requires physical models with a large number of highly correlated parameters. These models do not fit easily on grids and necessitate a full exploration of the available parameter space. We present Prospector, a flexible code for inferring stellar population parameters from photometry and spectroscopy spanning UV through IR wavelengths. This code is based on forward modeling the data and Monte Carlo sampling the posterior parameter distribution, enabling complex models and exploration of moderate dimensional parameter spaces. We describe the key ingredients of the code and discuss the general philosophy driving the design of these ingredients. We demonstrate some capabilities of the code on several data sets, including mock and real data.

[en] Using a local reference sample of 21 galaxies, we compare observations of the 2.16 μm Brackett-γ (Brγ) hydrogen recombination line with predictions from the Prospector Bayesian inference framework, which was used to fit the broadband photometry of these systems. This is a clean test of the spectral-energy-distribution-derived star formation rates (SFRs), as dust is expected to be optically thin at this wavelength in nearly all galaxies; thus, the internal conversion of SFR to predicted line luminosity does not depend strongly on the adopted dust model and posterior dust parameters, as is the case for shorter-wavelength lines such as Hα. We find that Prospector predicts Brγ luminosities and equivalent widths with small offsets (∼0.05 dex) and scatter (∼0.2 dex), consistent with measurement uncertainties, though we caution that the derived offset is dependent on the choice of stellar isochrones. We demonstrate that even when the Prospector-derived dust attenuation does not well describe, e.g., Hα line properties or observed reddening between Hα and Brγ, the underlying SFRs are accurate, as verified by the dust-free Brγ comparison. Finally, we discuss in what ways Brγ might be able to help constrain model parameters when treated as an input to the model, and we comment on its potential as an accurate monochromatic SFR indicator in the era of JWST multiobject near-IR spectroscopy.

[en] The fundamental plane (FP) is an empirical relation between the size, surface brightness, and velocity dispersion of early-type galaxies. This relation has been studied extensively for early-type galaxies in the local universe to constrain galaxy formation mechanisms. The evolution of the zero point of this plane has been extended to high redshifts to study the luminosity evolution of massive galaxies, under the assumption of structural homology. In this work, we assess this assumption by replacing surface brightness with stellar mass density and present the evolution of the ''mass FP'' for massive, quiescent galaxies since z ∼ 2. By accounting for stellar populations, we thereby isolate and trace structural and dynamical evolution. Despite the observed dramatic evolution in the sizes and morphologies of massive galaxies since z ∼ 3, we find that quiescent galaxies lie on the mass FP out to z ∼ 2. In contrast with ∼1.4 dex evolution in the luminosity FP, average residuals from the z ∼ 0 mass FP are less than ∼0.15 dex since z ∼ 2. Assuming the Hyde and Bernardi mass FP slope, we find that this minimal offset scales as (1 + z)^{–0.095 ± 0.043}. This result lends credence to previous studies that derived luminosity evolution from the FP. Therefore, despite their compact sizes and suggestions that massive galaxies are more disk-like at z ∼ 2, the relationship between their dynamics and structural properties are consistent with local early-type galaxies. Finally, we find no strong evidence for a tilt of the mass FP relative to the virial plane, but emphasize the need for full models including selection biases to fully investigate this issue

[en] We examine the connection between the observed star-forming sequence (SFR ∝ M ^α) and the observed evolution of the stellar mass function in the range 0.2 < z < 2.5. We find that the star-forming sequence cannot have a slope α ≲ 0.9 at all masses and redshifts because this would result in a much higher number density at 10 < log (M/M _☉) < 11 by z = 1 than is observed. We show that a transition in the slope of the star-forming sequence, such that α = 1 at log (M/M _☉) < 10.5 and α = 0.7-0.13z (Whitaker et al.) at log (M/M _☉) > 10.5, greatly improves agreement with the evolution of the stellar mass function. We then derive a star-forming sequence that reproduces the evolution of the mass function by design. This star-forming sequence is also well described by a broken power law, with a shallow slope at high masses and a steep slope at low masses. At z = 2, it is offset by ∼0.3 dex from the observed star-forming sequence, consistent with the mild disagreement between the cosmic star formation rate (SFR) and recent observations of the growth of the stellar mass density. It is unclear whether this problem stems from errors in stellar mass estimates, errors in SFRs, or other effects. We show that a mass-dependent slope is also seen in other self-consistent models of galaxy evolution, including semianalytical, hydrodynamical, and abundance-matching models. As part of the analysis, we demonstrate that neither mergers nor hidden low-mass quiescent galaxies are likely to reconcile the evolution of the mass function and the star-forming sequence. These results are supported by observations from Whitaker et al

[en] Broadband photometry of galaxies measures an unresolved mix of complex stellar populations, gas, and dust. Interpreting these data is a challenge for models: many studies have shown that properties derived from modeling galaxy photometry are uncertain by a factor of two or more, and yet answering key questions in the field now requires higher accuracy than this. Here, we present a new model framework specifically designed for these complexities. Our model, Prospector- α , includes dust attenuation and re-radiation, a flexible attenuation curve, nebular emission, stellar metallicity, and a six-component nonparametric star formation history. The flexibility and range of the parameter space, coupled with Monte Carlo Markov chain sampling within the Prospector inference framework, is designed to provide unbiased parameters and realistic error bars. We assess the accuracy of the model with aperture-matched optical spectroscopy, which was excluded from the fits. We compare spectral features predicted solely from fits to the broadband photometry to the observed spectral features. Our model predicts H α luminosities with a scatter of ∼0.18 dex and an offset of ∼0.1 dex across a wide range of morphological types and stellar masses. This agreement is remarkable, as the H α luminosity is dependent on accurate star formation rates, dust attenuation, and stellar metallicities. The model also accurately predicts dust-sensitive Balmer decrements, spectroscopic stellar metallicities, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mass fractions, and the age- and metallicity-sensitive features D_n4000 and H δ . Although the model passes all these tests, we caution that we have not yet assessed its performance at higher redshift or the accuracy of recovered stellar masses.

[en] We present BVRI light curves of 165 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search follow-up photometry program from 1998 through 2008. Our light curves are typically well sampled (cadence of 3-4 days) with an average of 21 photometry epochs. We describe our monitoring campaign and the photometry reduction pipeline that we have developed. Comparing our data set to that of Hicken et al., with which we have 69 overlapping supernovae (SNe), we find that as an ensemble the photometry is consistent, with only small overall systematic differences, although individual SNe may differ by as much as 0.1 mag, and occasionally even more. Such disagreement in specific cases can have significant implications for combining future large data sets. We present an analysis of our light curves which includes template fits of light-curve shape parameters useful for calibrating SNe Ia as distance indicators. Assuming the B - V color of SNe Ia at 35 days past maximum light can be presented as the convolution of an intrinsic Gaussian component and a decaying exponential attributed to host-galaxy reddening, we derive an intrinsic scatter of σ = 0.076 ± 0.019 mag, consistent with the Lira-Phillips law. This is the first of two papers, the second of which will present a cosmological analysis of the data presented herein.

[en] 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.

[en] We explore the presence of non-stellar rest-frame near-IR (2–5 μm) emission in galaxies at z ∼ 1. Previous studies identified this excess in relatively small samples and suggested that such non-stellar emission, which could be linked to the 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons feature or hot dust emission, is associated with an increased star formation rate (SFR). In this Letter, we confirm and quantify the presence of an IR excess in a significant fraction of galaxies in the 3D-HST GOODS catalogs. By constructing a matched sample of galaxies with and without strong non-stellar near-IR emission, we find that galaxies with such emission are predominantly star-forming galaxies. Moreover, star-forming galaxies with an excess show increased mid- and far-IR and Hα emission compared to other star-forming galaxies without. While galaxies with a near-IR excess show a larger fraction of individually detected X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs), an X-ray stacking analysis, together with the IR-colors and Hα profiles, shows that AGNs are unlikely to be the dominant source of excess in the majority of galaxies. Our results suggest that non-stellar near-IR emission is linked to increased SFRs and is ubiquitous among star-forming galaxies. As such, the near-IR emission might be a powerful tool to measure SFRs in the era of the James Webb Space Telescope

[en] At redshift z = 0.03, the recently discovered SN 2017egm is the nearest Type I superluminous supernova (SLSN) to date and first near the center of a massive spiral galaxy (NGC 3191). Using SDSS spectra of NGC 3191, we find a metallicity ∼2 $Z_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}$ at the nucleus and ∼1.3 $Z_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}$ for a star-forming region at a radial offset similar to SN 2017egm. Archival radio-to-UV photometry reveals a star formation rate of ∼15 $M_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}$ yr⁻¹ (with ∼70% dust obscured), which can account for a Swift X-ray detection and a stellar mass of $\sim <!--\; ???\; -->{10}^{10.7}$ $M_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}$. We model the early UV–optical light curves with a magnetar central-engine model, using the Bayesian light curve fitting tool MOSFiT. The fits indicate an ejecta mass of 2–4 $M_{\odot <!--\; ???\; -->}$, a spin period of 4–6 ms, a magnetic field of $(0.7\text{--}1.7)\times <!--\; ??\; -->{10}^{14}$ G, and a kinetic energy of $1\text{--}2\times <!--\; ??\; -->{10}^{51}$ erg. These parameters are consistent with the overall distributions for SLSNe, modeled by Nicholl et al., although the derived mass and spin are toward the low end, possibly indicating an enhanced loss of mass and angular momentum before explosion. This has two implications: (i) SLSNe can occur at solar metallicity, although with a low fraction of ∼10%, and (ii) metallicity has at most a modest effect on their properties. Both conclusions are in line with results for long gamma-ray bursts. Assuming a monotonic rise gives an explosion date of MJD 57889 ± 1. However, a short-lived excess in the data relative to the best-fitting models may indicate an early-time “bump.” If confirmed, SN 2017egm would be the first SLSN with a spectrum during the bump phase; this shows the same O ii lines seen at maximum light, which may be an important clue for explaining these bumps.