Violeta Gonzalez-Perez — Page 4

arXiv2012

Predictions for the intrinsic UV continuum properties of star forming galaxies and the implications for inferring dust extinction

The observed ultraviolet continuum (UVC) slope is potentially a powerful diagnostic of dust obscuration in star forming galaxies. However, the intrinsic slope is also sensitive to the form of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and to the recent star formation and metal enrichment histories of a galaxy. Using the galform semi-analytical model of galaxy formation, we investigate the intrinsic distribution of UVC slopes. For star-forming galaxies, we find that the intrinsic distribution of UVC slopes at z=0, parameterised by the power law index beta, has a standard deviation of sigma_beta=0.30. This suggests an uncertainty on the inferred UV attenuation of A_fuv=0.7$ (assuming a Calzetti attenuation curve) for an individual object, even with perfect photometry. Furthermore, we find that the intrinsic UVC slope correlates with star formation rate, intrinsic UV luminosity, stellar mass and redshift. These correlations have implications for the interpretation of trends in the observed UVC slope with these quantities irrespective of the sample size or quality of the photometry. Our results suggest that in some cases the attenuation by dust has been incorrectly estimated.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

A Public, K-Selected, Optical-to-Near-Infrared Catalog of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS) from the MUltiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC)

We present a new K-selected, optical-to-near-infrared photometric catalog of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS), making it publicly available to the astronomical community. The dataset is founded on publicly available imaging, supplemented by original zJK imaging data obtained as part of the MUltiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC). The final photometric catalog consists of photometry derived from nine band U-K imaging covering the full 0.5x0.5 sq. deg. of the ECDFS, plus H band data for approximately 80% of the field. The 5sigma flux limit for point-sources is K = 22.0 (AB). This is also the nominal completeness and reliability limit of the catalog: the empirical completeness for 21.75 < K < 22.00 is 85+%. We have verified the quality of the catalog through both internal consistency checks, and comparisons to other existing and publicly available catalogs. As well as the photometric catalog, we also present catalogs of photometric redshifts and restframe photometry derived from the ten band photometry. We have collected robust spectroscopic redshift determinations from published sources for 1966 galaxies in the catalog. Based on these sources, we have achieved a (1sigma) photometric redshift accuracy of Dz/(1+z) = 0.036, with an outlier fraction of 7.8%. Most of these outliers are X-ray sources. Finally, we describe and release a utility for interpolating restframe photometry from observed SEDs, dubbed InterRest. Particularly in concert with the wealth of already publicly available data in the ECDFS, this new MUSYC catalog provides an excellent resource for studying the changing properties of the massive galaxy population at z < 2. (Abridged)

astro-ph.CO↗