The MOSDEF survey: probing resolved stellar populations at z ∼ 2 Using a new bayesian-defined morphology metric called patchiness

Tara Fetherolf; Naveen A. Reddy; Alice E. Shapley; Mariska Kriek; Brian Siana; Alison L. Coil; Bahram Mobasher; William R. Freeman; Sedona H. Price; Ryan L. Sanders; Irene Shivaei; Mojegan Azadi; Laura de Groot; Gene C.K. Leung; Tom O. Zick

doi:10.1093/mnras/stac3362

The MOSDEF survey: probing resolved stellar populations at z ∼ 2 Using a new bayesian-defined morphology metric called patchiness

Tara Fetherolf, Naveen A. Reddy, Alice E. Shapley, Mariska Kriek, Brian Siana, Alison L. Coil, Bahram Mobasher, William R. Freeman, Sedona H. Price, Ryan L. Sanders, Irene Shivaei, Mojegan Azadi, Laura de Groot, Gene C.K. Leung, Tom O. Zick

Physics And Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

We define a new morphology metric called ‘patchiness’ (P) that is sensitive to deviations from the average of a resolved distribution, does not require the galaxy centre to be defined, and can be used on the spatially resolved distribution of any galaxy property. While the patchiness metric has a broad range of applications, we demonstrate its utility by investigating the distribution of dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of 310 star-forming galaxies at spectroscopic redshifts 1.36 < z < 2.66 observed by the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field survey. The stellar continuum reddening distribution, derived from high-resolution multiwaveband CANDELS/3D-HST imaging, is quantified using the patchiness, Gini, and M₂₀ coefficients. We find that the reddening maps of high-mass galaxies, which are dustier and more metal-rich on average, tend to exhibit patchier distributions (high P) with the reddest components concentrated within a single region (low M₂₀). Our results support a picture where dust is uniformly distributed in low-mass galaxies (≲10¹⁰ M_☉), implying efficient mixing of dust throughout the ISM. On the other hand, the dust distribution is patchier in high-mass galaxies (≳10¹⁰ M_☉). Dust is concentrated near regions of active star formation and dust mixing time-scales are expected to be longer in high-mass galaxies, such that the outskirt regions of these physically larger galaxies remain relatively unenriched. This study presents direct evidence for patchy dust distributions on scales of a few kpc in high-redshift galaxies, which previously has only been suggested as a possible explanation for the observed differences between nebular and stellar continuum reddening, star formation rate indicators, and dust attenuation curves.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4214-4237
Number of pages	24
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	518
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3362
State	Published - Jan 1 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work is based on observations taken by the CANDELS Multi-Cycle Treasury Program and the 3D-HST Treasury Program (GO 12177 and 12328) with the NASA/ESA HST, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. The MOSDEF team acknowledges support from an NSF AAG collaborative grant (AST-1312780, 1312547, 1312764, and 1313171) and grant AR-13907 from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Facilities: HST (WFC3, ACS), Keck:I (MOSFIRE), and Spitzer (IRAC) Software: ASTROPY (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2013, 2018), MATPLOTLIB (Hunter 2007), NUMPY (Oliphant 2007), SCIPY (Oliphant 2007), SPECLINE (Shivaei et al. 2018), Voronoi Binning Method (Cappellari & Copin 2003)

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.

Keywords

dust, extinction
galaxies: evolution
galaxies: high-redshift
galaxies: ISM
galaxies: structure
methods: data analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Access to Document

10.1093/mnras/stac3362

Cite this

Fetherolf, T., Reddy, N. A., Shapley, A. E., Kriek, M., Siana, B., Coil, A. L., Mobasher, B., Freeman, W. R., Price, S. H., Sanders, R. L., Shivaei, I., Azadi, M., de Groot, L., Leung, G. C. K., & Zick, T. O. (2023). The MOSDEF survey: probing resolved stellar populations at z ∼ 2 Using a new bayesian-defined morphology metric called patchiness. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 518(3), 4214-4237. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3362

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title = "The MOSDEF survey: probing resolved stellar populations at z ∼ 2 Using a new bayesian-defined morphology metric called patchiness",

abstract = "We define a new morphology metric called {\textquoteleft}patchiness{\textquoteright} (P) that is sensitive to deviations from the average of a resolved distribution, does not require the galaxy centre to be defined, and can be used on the spatially resolved distribution of any galaxy property. While the patchiness metric has a broad range of applications, we demonstrate its utility by investigating the distribution of dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of 310 star-forming galaxies at spectroscopic redshifts 1.36 < z < 2.66 observed by the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field survey. The stellar continuum reddening distribution, derived from high-resolution multiwaveband CANDELS/3D-HST imaging, is quantified using the patchiness, Gini, and M20 coefficients. We find that the reddening maps of high-mass galaxies, which are dustier and more metal-rich on average, tend to exhibit patchier distributions (high P) with the reddest components concentrated within a single region (low M20). Our results support a picture where dust is uniformly distributed in low-mass galaxies (≲1010 M☉), implying efficient mixing of dust throughout the ISM. On the other hand, the dust distribution is patchier in high-mass galaxies (≳1010 M☉). Dust is concentrated near regions of active star formation and dust mixing time-scales are expected to be longer in high-mass galaxies, such that the outskirt regions of these physically larger galaxies remain relatively unenriched. This study presents direct evidence for patchy dust distributions on scales of a few kpc in high-redshift galaxies, which previously has only been suggested as a possible explanation for the observed differences between nebular and stellar continuum reddening, star formation rate indicators, and dust attenuation curves.",

keywords = "dust, extinction, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: ISM, galaxies: structure, methods: data analysis",

author = "Tara Fetherolf and Reddy, {Naveen A.} and Shapley, {Alice E.} and Mariska Kriek and Brian Siana and Coil, {Alison L.} and Bahram Mobasher and Freeman, {William R.} and Price, {Sedona H.} and Sanders, {Ryan L.} and Irene Shivaei and Mojegan Azadi and {de Groot}, Laura and Leung, {Gene C.K.} and Zick, {Tom O.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work is based on observations taken by the CANDELS Multi-Cycle Treasury Program and the 3D-HST Treasury Program (GO 12177 and 12328) with the NASA/ESA HST, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. The MOSDEF team acknowledges support from an NSF AAG collaborative grant (AST-1312780, 1312547, 1312764, and 1313171) and grant AR-13907 from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Facilities: HST (WFC3, ACS), Keck:I (MOSFIRE), and Spitzer (IRAC) Software: ASTROPY (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2013, 2018), MATPLOTLIB (Hunter 2007), NUMPY (Oliphant 2007), SCIPY (Oliphant 2007), SPECLINE (Shivaei et al. 2018), Voronoi Binning Method (Cappellari & Copin 2003) Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

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doi = "10.1093/mnras/stac3362",

language = "English",

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Fetherolf, T, Reddy, NA, Shapley, AE, Kriek, M, Siana, B, Coil, AL, Mobasher, B, Freeman, WR, Price, SH, Sanders, RL, Shivaei, I, Azadi, M, de Groot, L, Leung, GCK & Zick, TO 2023, 'The MOSDEF survey: probing resolved stellar populations at z ∼ 2 Using a new bayesian-defined morphology metric called patchiness', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 518, no. 3, pp. 4214-4237. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3362

TY - JOUR

T1 - The MOSDEF survey

T2 - probing resolved stellar populations at z ∼ 2 Using a new bayesian-defined morphology metric called patchiness

AU - Fetherolf, Tara

AU - Reddy, Naveen A.

AU - Shapley, Alice E.

AU - Kriek, Mariska

AU - Siana, Brian

AU - Coil, Alison L.

AU - Mobasher, Bahram

AU - Freeman, William R.

AU - Price, Sedona H.

AU - Sanders, Ryan L.

AU - Shivaei, Irene

AU - Azadi, Mojegan

AU - de Groot, Laura

AU - Leung, Gene C.K.

AU - Zick, Tom O.

N1 - Funding Information: This work is based on observations taken by the CANDELS Multi-Cycle Treasury Program and the 3D-HST Treasury Program (GO 12177 and 12328) with the NASA/ESA HST, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. The MOSDEF team acknowledges support from an NSF AAG collaborative grant (AST-1312780, 1312547, 1312764, and 1313171) and grant AR-13907 from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Facilities: HST (WFC3, ACS), Keck:I (MOSFIRE), and Spitzer (IRAC) Software: ASTROPY (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2013, 2018), MATPLOTLIB (Hunter 2007), NUMPY (Oliphant 2007), SCIPY (Oliphant 2007), SPECLINE (Shivaei et al. 2018), Voronoi Binning Method (Cappellari & Copin 2003) Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.

PY - 2023/1/1

Y1 - 2023/1/1

N2 - We define a new morphology metric called ‘patchiness’ (P) that is sensitive to deviations from the average of a resolved distribution, does not require the galaxy centre to be defined, and can be used on the spatially resolved distribution of any galaxy property. While the patchiness metric has a broad range of applications, we demonstrate its utility by investigating the distribution of dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of 310 star-forming galaxies at spectroscopic redshifts 1.36 < z < 2.66 observed by the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field survey. The stellar continuum reddening distribution, derived from high-resolution multiwaveband CANDELS/3D-HST imaging, is quantified using the patchiness, Gini, and M20 coefficients. We find that the reddening maps of high-mass galaxies, which are dustier and more metal-rich on average, tend to exhibit patchier distributions (high P) with the reddest components concentrated within a single region (low M20). Our results support a picture where dust is uniformly distributed in low-mass galaxies (≲1010 M☉), implying efficient mixing of dust throughout the ISM. On the other hand, the dust distribution is patchier in high-mass galaxies (≳1010 M☉). Dust is concentrated near regions of active star formation and dust mixing time-scales are expected to be longer in high-mass galaxies, such that the outskirt regions of these physically larger galaxies remain relatively unenriched. This study presents direct evidence for patchy dust distributions on scales of a few kpc in high-redshift galaxies, which previously has only been suggested as a possible explanation for the observed differences between nebular and stellar continuum reddening, star formation rate indicators, and dust attenuation curves.

AB - We define a new morphology metric called ‘patchiness’ (P) that is sensitive to deviations from the average of a resolved distribution, does not require the galaxy centre to be defined, and can be used on the spatially resolved distribution of any galaxy property. While the patchiness metric has a broad range of applications, we demonstrate its utility by investigating the distribution of dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of 310 star-forming galaxies at spectroscopic redshifts 1.36 < z < 2.66 observed by the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field survey. The stellar continuum reddening distribution, derived from high-resolution multiwaveband CANDELS/3D-HST imaging, is quantified using the patchiness, Gini, and M20 coefficients. We find that the reddening maps of high-mass galaxies, which are dustier and more metal-rich on average, tend to exhibit patchier distributions (high P) with the reddest components concentrated within a single region (low M20). Our results support a picture where dust is uniformly distributed in low-mass galaxies (≲1010 M☉), implying efficient mixing of dust throughout the ISM. On the other hand, the dust distribution is patchier in high-mass galaxies (≳1010 M☉). Dust is concentrated near regions of active star formation and dust mixing time-scales are expected to be longer in high-mass galaxies, such that the outskirt regions of these physically larger galaxies remain relatively unenriched. This study presents direct evidence for patchy dust distributions on scales of a few kpc in high-redshift galaxies, which previously has only been suggested as a possible explanation for the observed differences between nebular and stellar continuum reddening, star formation rate indicators, and dust attenuation curves.

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KW - galaxies: evolution

KW - galaxies: high-redshift

KW - galaxies: ISM

KW - galaxies: structure

KW - methods: data analysis

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JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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The MOSDEF survey: probing resolved stellar populations at z ∼ 2 Using a new bayesian-defined morphology metric called patchiness

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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