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The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G) : precise stellar mass distributions from automated dust correction at 3.6 μm.
Faculty Scholarship
  • Miguel Querejeta, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • Sharon Meidt, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • Eva Schinnerer, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • Mauricio Cisternas, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain
  • Juan Carlos Muñoz-Mateos, European Southern Observatory
  • Kartik Sheth, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
  • Johan H. Knapen, Universidad de La Laguna
  • Glenn van de Ven, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • Mark A. Norris, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • Reynier Peletier, University of Groningen
  • Eija Laurikainen, University of Oulu
  • Heikki Salo, University of Oulu
  • Benne W. Holwerda, University of Louisville
  • E. Athanassoula, Aix Marseille Universite
  • Albert Bosma, Aix Marseille Universite
  • Brent Groves, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • Luis C. Ho, The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science
  • Dimitri A. Gadotti, European Southern Observatory
  • Dennis Zaritsky, The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science
  • Michael Regan, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
  • Joannah Hinz, University of Arizona
  • Armando Gil de Paz, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  • Karin Menendez-Delmestre, Observatório do Valongo
  • Mark Seibert, Observatories of the Carnegie Institute for Science
  • Trisha Mizusawa, Florida Institute of Technology
  • Taehyun Kim, Peking University
  • Santiago Erroz-Ferrer, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
  • Jarkko Laine, University of Oulu
  • Sebastien Comeron, University of Oulu
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-1-2015
Department
Physics and Astronomy
Abstract

The mid-infrared is an optimal window to trace stellar mass in nearby galaxies and the 3.6 mm IRAC band has been exploited to this effect, but such mass estimates can be biased by dust emission. We present our pipeline to reveal the old stellar flux at 3.6 μm and obtain stellar mass maps for more than 1600 galaxies available from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4 G). This survey consists of images in two infrared bands (3.6 and 4.5 mm ), and we use the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) method presented in Meidt et al. to separate the dominant light from old stars and the dust emission that can significantly contribute to the observed 3.6 mm flux. We exclude from our ICA analysis galaxies with low signal-to-noise ratio (S N 10 < ) and those with original [3.6]–[4.5] colors compatible with an old stellar population, indicative of little dust emission (mostly early Hubble types, which can directly provide good mass maps). For the remaining 1251 galaxies to which ICA was successfully applied, we find that as much as 10%–30% of the total light at 3.6 mm typically originates from dust, and locally it can reach even higher values. This contamination fraction shows a correlation with specific star formation rates, confirming that the dust emission that we detect is related to star formation. Additionally, we have used our large sample of mass estimates to calibrate a relationship of effective mass-to-light ratio (M/L) as a function of observed [3.6]–[4.5] color: log( ) M L = -0.339( 0.057)  ´ ([3.6] [4.5]) 0.336( 0.002) --  . Our final pipeline products have been made public through IRSA, providing the astronomical community with an unprecedentedly large set of stellar mass maps ready to use for scientific applications.

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© 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/219/1/5

DOI
10.1088/0067-0049/219/1/5
Citation Information

Querejeta, Miguel, et al. "The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (s4 g): Precise Stellar Mass Distributions from Automated Dust Correction at 3.6 μm." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 219(1): 19 pp.