What do we learn from IRAC observations of galaxies at 2 < z < 3.5?

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dc.creatorWuyts, Stijn
dc.creatorLabbe, Ivo
dc.creatorFranx, Marijn
dc.creatorRudnick, Gregory
dc.creatorvan Dokkum, Pieter G.
dc.creatorFazio, Giovanni G.
dc.creatorSchreiber, Natascha M. Forster
dc.creatorHuang, Jiasheng
dc.creatorMoorwood, Alan F. M.
dc.creatorRix, Hans-Walter
dc.creatorRottgering, Huub
dc.creatorvan der Werf, Paul
dc.date2006-09-19
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T11:42:36Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T11:42:36Z
dc.descriptionWe analyze very deep HST, VLT and Spitzer photometry of galaxies at 2<z<3.5 in the Hubble Deep Field South. The sample is selected from the deepest public K-band imaging currently available. We show that the rest-frame U-V vs V-J color-color diagram is a powerful diagnostic of the stellar populations of distant galaxies. Galaxies with red rest-frame U-V colors are generally red in rest-frame V-J as well. However, at a given U-V color a range in V-J colors exists, and we show that this allows us to distinguish young, dusty galaxies from old, passively evolving galaxies. We quantify the effects of IRAC photometry on estimates of masses, ages, and the dust content of z>2 galaxies. The estimated distributions of these properties do not change significantly when adding IRAC data to the UBVIJHK photometry. However, for individual galaxies the addition of IRAC can improve the constraints on the stellar populations, especially for red galaxies: uncertainties in stellar mass decrease by a factor of 2.7 for red (U-V > 1) galaxies, but only by a factor of 1.3 for blue (U-V < 1) galaxies. We find a similar color-dependence of the improvement for estimates of age and dust extinction. In addition, the improvement from adding IRAC depends on the availability of full near-infrared JHK coverage; if only K-band were available, the mass uncertainties of blue galaxies would decrease by a more substantial factor 1.9. Finally, we find that a trend of galaxy color with stellar mass is already present at z>2. The most massive galaxies at high redshift have red rest-frame U-V colors compared to lower mass galaxies even when allowing for complex star formation histories.
dc.descriptionAccepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 16 pages, 16 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609548
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609548
dc.identifierAstrophys.J.655:51-65,2007
dc.identifierdoi:10.1086/509708
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/200943
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleWhat do we learn from IRAC observations of galaxies at 2 < z < 3.5?
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