High-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST Photometry
Robust inference of galaxy stellar masses from photometry is crucial for constraints on galaxy assembly across cosmic time. Here, we test a commonly used spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code using simulated galaxies from the S phinx ^20 cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulation with...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad9a4d |
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| author | R. K. Cochrane H. Katz R. Begley C. C. Hayward P. N. Best |
| author_facet | R. K. Cochrane H. Katz R. Begley C. C. Hayward P. N. Best |
| author_sort | R. K. Cochrane |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Robust inference of galaxy stellar masses from photometry is crucial for constraints on galaxy assembly across cosmic time. Here, we test a commonly used spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code using simulated galaxies from the S phinx ^20 cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulation with JWST NIRCam photometry forward-modeled with radiative transfer. Fitting the synthetic photometry with various star formation history models, we show that recovered stellar masses are, encouragingly, generally robust to within a factor of ∼3 for galaxies in the range M _⋆ ∼ 10 ^7 −10 ^9 M _⊙ at z = 5−10. These results are in stark contrast to recent work claiming that stellar masses can be underestimated by as much as an order of magnitude in these mass and redshift ranges. However, while >90% of masses are recovered to within 0.5 dex, there are notable systematic trends, with stellar masses typically overestimated for low-mass galaxies ( M _⋆ ≲ 10 ^8 M _⊙ ) and slightly underestimated for high-mass galaxies ( M _⋆ ≳ 10 ^9 M _⊙ ). We demonstrate that these trends arise due to the SED fitting code poorly modeling the impact of strong emission lines on broadband photometry. These systematic trends, which exist for all star formation history parameterizations tested, have a tilting effect on the inferred stellar mass function, with the number densities of massive galaxies underestimated (particularly at the lowest redshifts studied) and the number densities of lower-mass galaxies typically overestimated. Overall, this work suggests that we should be optimistic about our ability to infer the masses of high- z galaxies observed with JWST (notwithstanding contamination from active galactic nuclei) but careful when modeling the impact of strong emission lines on broadband photometry. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-24cecc113e964769808a941144cb0a64 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-24cecc113e964769808a941144cb0a642025-01-10T07:55:05ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019782L4210.3847/2041-8213/ad9a4dHigh-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST PhotometryR. K. Cochrane0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8855-6107H. Katz1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1561-3814R. Begley2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0629-8074C. C. Hayward3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4073-3236P. N. Best4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5081-4801Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK ; rcochra3@ed.ac.uk; Department of Astronomy, Columbia University , New York, NY 10027, USADepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago , 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USAInstitute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK ; rcochra3@ed.ac.ukEureka Scientific, Inc. , 2452 Delmer Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94602, USA; Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo , Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan; Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USAInstitute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK ; rcochra3@ed.ac.ukRobust inference of galaxy stellar masses from photometry is crucial for constraints on galaxy assembly across cosmic time. Here, we test a commonly used spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code using simulated galaxies from the S phinx ^20 cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulation with JWST NIRCam photometry forward-modeled with radiative transfer. Fitting the synthetic photometry with various star formation history models, we show that recovered stellar masses are, encouragingly, generally robust to within a factor of ∼3 for galaxies in the range M _⋆ ∼ 10 ^7 −10 ^9 M _⊙ at z = 5−10. These results are in stark contrast to recent work claiming that stellar masses can be underestimated by as much as an order of magnitude in these mass and redshift ranges. However, while >90% of masses are recovered to within 0.5 dex, there are notable systematic trends, with stellar masses typically overestimated for low-mass galaxies ( M _⋆ ≲ 10 ^8 M _⊙ ) and slightly underestimated for high-mass galaxies ( M _⋆ ≳ 10 ^9 M _⊙ ). We demonstrate that these trends arise due to the SED fitting code poorly modeling the impact of strong emission lines on broadband photometry. These systematic trends, which exist for all star formation history parameterizations tested, have a tilting effect on the inferred stellar mass function, with the number densities of massive galaxies underestimated (particularly at the lowest redshifts studied) and the number densities of lower-mass galaxies typically overestimated. Overall, this work suggests that we should be optimistic about our ability to infer the masses of high- z galaxies observed with JWST (notwithstanding contamination from active galactic nuclei) but careful when modeling the impact of strong emission lines on broadband photometry.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad9a4dGalaxy evolutionHigh-redshift galaxiesRadiative transferObservational astronomy |
| spellingShingle | R. K. Cochrane H. Katz R. Begley C. C. Hayward P. N. Best High-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST Photometry The Astrophysical Journal Letters Galaxy evolution High-redshift galaxies Radiative transfer Observational astronomy |
| title | High-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST Photometry |
| title_full | High-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST Photometry |
| title_fullStr | High-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST Photometry |
| title_full_unstemmed | High-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST Photometry |
| title_short | High-z Stellar Masses Can Be Recovered Robustly with JWST Photometry |
| title_sort | high z stellar masses can be recovered robustly with jwst photometry |
| topic | Galaxy evolution High-redshift galaxies Radiative transfer Observational astronomy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad9a4d |
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