Stellar masses, star formation rates, metallicities and AGN properties for 200,000 galaxies in the SDSS Data Release Two (DR2)

Abstract

By providing homogeneous photometric and spectroscopic data of high quality for very large and objectively selected samples of galaxies, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey allows statistical studies of the physical properties of galaxies and AGN to be carried out at an unprecedented level of precision and detail. Here we publicly release catalogues of derived physical properties for 211,894 galaxies, including 33,589 narrow-line AGN. These are complete samples with well understood selection criteria drawn from the normal galaxy spectroscopic sample in the second SDSS public data release (DR2). We list properties obtained from the SDSS spectroscopy and photometry using modelling techniques presented in papers already published by our group. These properties include: stellar masses; stellar mass-to-light ratios; attenuation of the starlight by dust; indicators of recent major starbursts; current total and specific star-formation rates, both for the regions with spectroscopy and for the galaxies as a whole; gas-phase metallicities; AGN classifications based on the standard emission line ratio diagnostic diagrams and AGN [OIII] emission line luminosities. We also list our own measurements of absorption line indices and emission line fluxes from which these quantities were derived, together with a few quantities from the standard SDSS pipelines which play an important role in our work. Many other observed properties of these galaxies can be obtained from the SDSS DR2 catalogues themselves. We will add further physical properties to this release site as the relevant papers are accepted for publication. Catalogies containing these parameters may be accessed at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/SDSS/.