Synthetic galaxy images and spectra from the Illustris simulation
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Vogelsberger_Synthetic galaxy.pdf
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5.85 MB
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Author(s)
Snyder, Gregory F.
Vogelsberger, Mark
Hayward, Christopher C.
Genel, Shy
Sijacki, Debora
Springel, Volker
Hernquist, Lars
Nelson, Dylan
Kriek, Mariska
Pillepich, Annalisa
Date Issued
January 2015
Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
Torrey, P., G. F. Snyder, M. Vogelsberger, C. C. Hayward, S. Genel, D. Sijacki, V. Springel, et al. “Synthetic Galaxy Images and Spectra from the Illustris Simulation.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 447, no. 3 (January 5, 2015): 2753–2771.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
We present our methods for generating a catalogue of 7000 synthetic images and 40 000 integrated spectra of redshift z = 0 galaxies from the Illustris simulation. The mock data products are produced by using stellar population synthesis models to assign spectral energy distributions (SED) to each star particle in the galaxies. The resulting synthetic images and integrated SEDs therefore properly reflect the spatial distribution, stellar metallicity distribution, and star formation history of the galaxies. From the synthetic data products, it is possible to produce monochromatic or colour-composite images, perform SED fitting, classify morphology, determine galaxy structural properties, and evaluate the impacts of galaxy viewing angle. The main contribution of this paper is to describe the production, format, and composition of the image catalogue that makes up the Illustris Simulation Observatory. As a demonstration of this resource, we derive galactic stellar mass estimates by applying the SED fitting code fast to the synthetic galaxy products, and compare the derived stellar masses against the true stellar masses from the simulation. We find from this idealized experiment that systematic biases exist in the photometrically derived stellar mass values that can be reduced by using a fixed metallicity in conjunction with a minimum galaxy age restriction.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2592
