Leveraging 3D-HST Grism Redshifts to Quantify Photometric Redshift Performance

Abstract

We present a study of photometric redshift accuracy in the 3D-HST photometric catalogs, using 3D-HST grism redshifts to quantify and dissect trends in redshift accuracy for galaxies brighter than $H_{F140W}<24$ with an unprecedented and representative high-redshift galaxy sample. We find an average scatter of $0.0197\pm 0.0003(1+z)$ in the Skelton et al. (2014) photometric redshifts. Photometric redshift accuracy decreases with magnitude and redshift, but does not vary monotonically with color or stellar mass. The 1-$\sigma$ scatter lies between $0.01-0.03$(1+z) for galaxies of all masses and colors below $z<2.5$ (for $H_{F140W}<24$), with the exception of a population of very red ($U-V>2$), dusty star-forming galaxies for which the scatter increases to $\sim 0.1(1+z)$. Although the overall photometric redshift accuracy for quiescent galaxies is better than for star-forming galaxies, scatter depends more strongly on magnitude and redshift than on galaxy type. We verify these trends using the redshift distributions of close pairs and extend the analysis to fainter objects, where photometric redshift errors further increase to $\sim 0.046(1+z)$ at $H_{F160W}=26$. We demonstrate that photometric redshift accuracy is strongly filter-dependent and quantify the contribution of multiple filter combinations. We evaluate the widths of redshift probability distribution functions and find that error estimates are underestimated by a factor of $\sim 1.1-1.6$, but that uniformly broadening the distribution does not adequately account for fitting outliers. Finally, we suggest possible applications of these data in planning for current and future surveys and simulate photometric redshift performance in the LSST, DES, and combined DES and VHS surveys.

27 pages, 25 figures. Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (31)

• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• 3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since $z=3$
• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• zCOSMOS: A Large VLT/VIMOS redshift survey covering 0 < z < 3 in the COSMOS field
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• UltraVISTA: a new ultra-deep near-infrared survey in COSMOS
• The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS). IV. Evolution of Lya Emitters from z=3.1 to 5.7 in the 1 deg^2 Field: Luminosity Functions and AGN
• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS): Subaru Observations of the HST COSMOS Field
• What do we learn from IRAC observations of galaxies at 2 < z < 3.5?
• The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) - II. Optical Imaging and Photometric Catalogs
• Calibrating Redshift Distributions Beyond Spectroscopic Limits with Cross-Correlations
• The Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC): Deep Medium-Band optical imaging and high quality 32-band photometric redshifts in the ECDF-S
• A Spectroscopic Survey of Redshift 1.4<z<3.0 Galaxies in the Goods-North Field: Survey Description, Catalogs, and Properties
• CARS: the CFHTLS-Archive-Research Survey; I. Five-band multi-colour data from 37 sq. deg. CFHTLS-Wide observations
• Deep U band and R imaging of GOODS-South: Observations,data reduction and first results
• A catalog of mid-infrared sources in the Extended Groth Strip
• Probing the galaxy-halo connection in UltraVISTA to $z\sim 2$
• A blind test of photometric redshifts on ground-based data
• MOIRCS Deep Survey. VIII. Evolution of Star Formation Activity as a Function of Stellar Mass in Galaxies since z~3
• A Confirmation of the Strong Clustering of Distant Red Galaxies at 2 < z <3
• A Pilot Survey for KX QSOs in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Field
• Photometric redshifts: estimating their contamination and distribution using clustering information
• Combining Dark Energy Survey Science Verification Data with Near Infrared Data from the ESO VISTA Hemisphere Survey
• One Plane for All: Massive Star-Forming and Quiescent Galaxies Lie on the Same Mass Fundamental Plane at z~0 and z~0.7
• Extremely red objects in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Early Data Release
• Sub-Megaparsec Individual Photometric Redshift Estimation from Cosmic Web Constraints
• Low-power radio galaxy environments in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field at z~0.5
• Spectroscopic follow-up of a cluster candidate at z = 1.45
• The Subaru-XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) VIII.: Multi-wavelength Identification, Optical/NIR Spectroscopic Properties, and Photometric Redshifts of X-ray Sources
• I. Apples to apples $A^2$: realistic galaxy simulated catalogs and photometric redshift predictions for next-generation surveys
• Galaxy clustering using photometric redshifts

Cited by in corpus (25)

• The 3D-HST Survey: Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/G141 grism spectra, redshifts, and emission line measurements for $\sim 100,000$ galaxies
• The CANDELS/SHARDS multi-wavelength catalog in GOODS-N: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts, Stellar Masses, Emission line fluxes and Star Formation Rates
• The Hubble Legacy Field GOODS-S Photometric Catalog
• A New Census of the 0.2< z <3.0 Universe, Part II: The Star-Forming Sequence
• A New Census of the 0.2 < z < 3.0 Universe, Part I: The Stellar Mass Function
• An uncontaminated measurement of the escaping Lyman continuum at $z\sim 3$
• Galaxy environment in the 3D-HST fields. Witnessing the onset of satellite quenching at z ~ 1-2
• Extending the evolution of the stellar mass-size relation at $z\le 2$ to low stellar mass galaxies from HFF and CANDELS
• ZFIRE: A KECK/MOSFIRE Spectroscopic Survey of Galaxies in Rich Environments at z~2
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cross-Correlation Redshifts - Methods and Systematics Characterization
• The Evolution of the Fractions of Quiescent and Star-forming Galaxies as a Function of Stellar Mass Since z=3: Increasing Importance of Massive, Dusty Star-forming Galaxies in the Early Universe
• HST/WFC3 grism observations of $z\sim 1$ clusters: The cluster vs. field stellar mass-size relation and evidence for size growth of quiescent galaxies from minor mergers
• Optimized Photometric Redshifts for the Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS)
• Galaxy Merger Fractions in Two Clusters at $z\sim 2$ Using the Hubble Space Telescope
• A new method to assign galaxy cluster membership using photometric redshifts
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: III. Testing photometric redshifts to 30th magnitude
• Effects of Supernova Redshift Uncertainties on the Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• Early JWST imaging reveals strong optical and NIR color gradients in galaxies at $z\sim 2$ driven mostly by dust
• Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing in HSC: Validation Tests and the Impact of Heterogeneous Spectroscopic Training Sets
• The effect of environment on star formation activity and morphology at 0.5 < z < 2.5 in CANDELS
• A cross-correlation-based estimate of the galaxy luminosity function
• Structures, stellar population properties, AGN fractions, and environments of massive compact galaxies at $1<z<2$ in 3D--{\it HST}/CANDELS
• Spectrophotometric redshifts for $\mathrm{z}\sim 1$ galaxies and predictions for number densities with WFIRST and Euclid
• SuperCLASS -- II: Photometric Redshifts and Characteristics of Spatially-Resolved $\mu$Jy Radio Sources
• Morphological Transformation and Star Formation Quenching of Massive Galaxies at 0.5 < z < 2.5 in 3D-HST/CANDELS