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A Bayesian approach to quantify the uncertainties in the determination of galaxy properties derived from spectral fits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2012

Gladis Magris C. ,
Cecilia Mateu  and
Gustavo Bruzual A.
Gladis Magris C.
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía (CIDA)Apdo. Postal 264, Mérida 5101, Venezuela email: [email protected], [email protected]
Cecilia Mateu
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía (CIDA)Apdo. Postal 264, Mérida 5101, Venezuela email: [email protected], [email protected]
Gustavo Bruzual A.
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía (CIDA)Apdo. Postal 264, Mérida 5101, Venezuela email: [email protected], [email protected] Centro de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, UNAM, Campus MoreliaApartado Postal 372, 58090, Morelia, Michoacán, México email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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We use a bayesian formalism to quantify the uncertainties in the determination of the luminous mass and age of the dominant stellar population in a galaxy obtained from simple spectral fits. The analysis is performed over a sample of synthetic spectra covering a wide range of star formation histories and seen at different ages and redshifts. Using the bayesian approach we can establish quantitatively the uncertainties in the parameters derived from these fits in a straightforward manner, which is not possible using some simple algorithms, e.g. GASPEX, a non-negative least-square fitting algorithm.

Keywords

methods: data analysismethods: statisticalgalaxies: stellar content
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 7 , Symposium S284: The Spectral Energy Distribution of Galaxies , September 2011 , pp. 46 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2012

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