Testing a New Star Formation History Model from Principal Component Analysis to Facilitate Spectral Synthesis Modeling

Abstract

The spectrum of a galaxy is a complicated convolution of many properties of the galaxy, such as the star formation history (SFH), initial mass function, and metallicity. Inferring galaxy properties from the observed spectrum via spectral synthesis modeling is thus challenging. In particular, a simple yet flexible model for the SFH is required to obtain unbiased inferences. In this paper, we use SFHs from the IllustrisTNG and EAGLE simulations to test SFH models in terms of their capability of describing the simulated SFHs and the spectra generated from them. In addition to some commonly used SFH models ($\Gamma$, $\tau$, and nonparametric), we also examine a model developed from principal component analysis (PCA), trained by a set of SFHs from IllustrisTNG. We find that when using the first five principal components (eigenhistories), the PCA-based models can achieve a good balance between simplicity and accuracy. Among the models tested, the PCA-based model provides high flexibility, by capturing diverse and complex simulated SFHs. To accurately reproduce spectra generated from the simulated SFHs, it is necessary to have a degree of freedom to describe the most recent SFH (e.g., a step function covering the age of 0 - 0.3 Gyr). Overall, the PCA+step model performs well in capturing the diversity of SFHs and reproducing the associated spectra, suggesting it is a promising and reliable approach for spectral synthesis modeling.

18 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (71)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The cosmological simulation code GADGET-2
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments
• E pur si muove: Galiliean-invariant cosmological hydrodynamical simulations on a moving mesh
• Introducing the Illustris Project: Simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the Universe
• The Average Star Formation Histories of Galaxies in Dark Matter Halos from z=0-8
• Mass and environment as drivers of galaxy evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the origin of the Schechter function
• Simulating Galaxy Formation with the IllustrisTNG Model
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: matter and galaxy clustering
• Planck 2013 results. I. Overview of products and scientific results
• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: the stellar mass content of groups and clusters of galaxies
• The epochs of early-type galaxy formation as a function of environment
• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: the galaxy color bimodality
• The EAGLE simulations of galaxy formation: calibration of subgrid physics and model variations
• Improving the full spectrum fitting method: accurate convolution with Gauss-Hermite functions
• Properties of galaxies reproduced by a hydrodynamic simulation
• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: A tale of two elements -- chemical evolution of magnesium and europium
• Simulating galaxy formation with black hole driven thermal and kinetic feedback
• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: radio haloes and magnetic fields
• Introducing the Illustris Project: the evolution of galaxy populations across cosmic time
• Modeling the Panchromatic Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
• Inferring the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies with BAGPIPES: Evidence for multiple quenching mechanisms
• Extragalactic Science, Cosmology and Galactic Archaeology with the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS)
• The Illustris simulation: the evolving population of black holes across cosmic time
• How to Measure Galaxy Star Formation Histories II: Nonparametric Models
• The Complete Star Formation History of the Universe
• STELIB: a library of stellar spectra at R~2000
• Mass and Environment as Drivers of Galaxy Evolution II: The quenching of satellite galaxies as the origin of environmental effects
• The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury VIII. The Global Star Formation Histories of 60 Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Volume
• 4MOST: Project overview and information for the First Call for Proposals
• The Characteristic Star Formation Histories of Galaxies at Redshifts z~2-7
• How to measure galaxy star-formation histories I: Parametric models
• Environmental Effects on Satellite Galaxies: The Link Between Concentration, Size and Colour Profile
• Distributions of Galaxy Spectral Types in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Spectral imaging of the Central Molecular Zone in multiple 3-mm molecular lines
• The evolution of star formation histories of quiescent galaxies
• Minimizing the stochasticity of halos in large-scale structure surveys
• Non-parametric Star Formation History Reconstruction with Gaussian Processes I: Counting Major Episodes of Star Formation
• NIHAO XV: The environmental impact of the host galaxy on galactic satellite and field dwarf galaxies
• The IMACS Cluster Building Survey: IV. The Log-normal Star Formation History of Galaxies
• Reconstruction of Galaxy Star Formation Histories through SED Fitting: The Dense Basis Approach
• The Diversity and Variability of Star Formation Histories in Models of Galaxy Evolution
• Stochastic modeling of star-formation histories I: the scatter of the star-forming main sequence
• Principal Component Analysis on Chemical Abundances Spaces
• On the importance of using appropriate spectral models to derive physical properties of galaxies at 0.7<z<2.8
• Spitzer spectral line mapping of supernova remnants: I. Basic data and principal component analysis
• Recovering the star formation histories of recently-quenched galaxies: the impact of model and prior choices
• An Empirical Model for the Star Formation History in Dark Matter Halos
• Inferring More from Less: Prospector as a Photometric Redshift Engine in the Era of JWST
• Molecular line mapping of the giant molecular cloud associated with RCW 106 - III. Multi-molecular line mapping
• The intrinsic characteristics of galaxies on the SFR-stellar mass plane at 1.2<z<4: I. the correlation between stellar age, central density and position relative to the main sequence
• Stellar Populations of over one thousand $z\sim 0.8$ Galaxies from LEGA-C: Ages and Star Formation Histories from D${}_n$4000 and H$\delta$
• The cumulative star-formation histories of dwarf galaxies with TNG50. I: Environment-driven diversity and connection to quenching
• Dissecting the molecular structure of the Orion B cloud: Insight from Principal Component Analysis
• Star Formation and Stellar Mass Assembly in Dark Matter Halos: From Giants to Dwarfs
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: Stellar initial mass function variation inferred from Bayesian analysis of the integral field spectroscopy of early type galaxies
• What Do Dark Matter Properties Tell Us About Their Mass Assembly Histories?
• Halo stochasticity in global clustering analysis
• Relating the structure of dark matter halos to their assembly and environment
• Distribution of Water Vapor in Molecular Clouds
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: Bayesian analysis of the star formation history of low-mass galaxies in the local Universe
• On the maximum age resolution achievable through stellar population synthesis models
• Semi-analytic spectral fitting: simultaneously modelling the mass accumulation and chemical evolution in MaNGA spiral galaxies
• Principal Component Analysis of Galaxy Clustering in Hyperspace of Galaxy Properties
• The effects of environment on galaxies' dynamical structures: From simulations to observations