Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients
ABSTRACT Metallicity gradients are important diagnostics of galaxy evolution, because they record the history of events such as mergers, gas inflow, and star formation. However, the accuracy with which gradients can be measured is limited by spatial resolution and noise, and hence, measurements need...
Published in: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1100 http://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/mnras/staa1100/33131750/staa1100.pdf http://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-pdf/495/4/3819/33364413/staa1100.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/mnras/staa1100 2024-04-28T08:37:22+00:00 Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients Acharyya, Ayan Krumholz, Mark R Federrath, Christoph Kewley, Lisa J Goldbaum, Nathan J Sharp, Rob Australian Research Council 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1100 http://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/mnras/staa1100/33131750/staa1100.pdf http://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-pdf/495/4/3819/33364413/staa1100.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society volume 495, issue 4, page 3819-3838 ISSN 0035-8711 1365-2966 Space and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics journal-article 2020 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1100 2024-04-02T08:02:36Z ABSTRACT Metallicity gradients are important diagnostics of galaxy evolution, because they record the history of events such as mergers, gas inflow, and star formation. However, the accuracy with which gradients can be measured is limited by spatial resolution and noise, and hence, measurements need to be corrected for such effects. We use high-resolution (∼20 pc) simulation of a face-on Milky Way mass galaxy, coupled with photoionization models, to produce a suite of synthetic high-resolution integral field spectroscopy (IFS) datacubes. We then degrade the datacubes, with a range of realistic models for spatial resolution (2−16 beams per galaxy scale length) and noise, to investigate and quantify how well the input metallicity gradient can be recovered as a function of resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with the intention to compare with modern IFS surveys like MaNGA and SAMI. Given appropriate propagation of uncertainties and pruning of low SNR pixels, we show that a resolution of 3–4 telescope beams per galaxy scale length is sufficient to recover the gradient to ∼10–20 per cent uncertainty. The uncertainty escalates to ∼60 per cent for lower resolution. Inclusion of the low SNR pixels causes the uncertainty in the inferred gradient to deteriorate. Our results can potentially inform future IFS surveys regarding the resolution and SNR required to achieve a desired accuracy in metallicity gradient measurements. Article in Journal/Newspaper sami Oxford University Press Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 495 4 3819 3838 |
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English |
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Space and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics |
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Space and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics Acharyya, Ayan Krumholz, Mark R Federrath, Christoph Kewley, Lisa J Goldbaum, Nathan J Sharp, Rob Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients |
topic_facet |
Space and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics |
description |
ABSTRACT Metallicity gradients are important diagnostics of galaxy evolution, because they record the history of events such as mergers, gas inflow, and star formation. However, the accuracy with which gradients can be measured is limited by spatial resolution and noise, and hence, measurements need to be corrected for such effects. We use high-resolution (∼20 pc) simulation of a face-on Milky Way mass galaxy, coupled with photoionization models, to produce a suite of synthetic high-resolution integral field spectroscopy (IFS) datacubes. We then degrade the datacubes, with a range of realistic models for spatial resolution (2−16 beams per galaxy scale length) and noise, to investigate and quantify how well the input metallicity gradient can be recovered as a function of resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with the intention to compare with modern IFS surveys like MaNGA and SAMI. Given appropriate propagation of uncertainties and pruning of low SNR pixels, we show that a resolution of 3–4 telescope beams per galaxy scale length is sufficient to recover the gradient to ∼10–20 per cent uncertainty. The uncertainty escalates to ∼60 per cent for lower resolution. Inclusion of the low SNR pixels causes the uncertainty in the inferred gradient to deteriorate. Our results can potentially inform future IFS surveys regarding the resolution and SNR required to achieve a desired accuracy in metallicity gradient measurements. |
author2 |
Australian Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Acharyya, Ayan Krumholz, Mark R Federrath, Christoph Kewley, Lisa J Goldbaum, Nathan J Sharp, Rob |
author_facet |
Acharyya, Ayan Krumholz, Mark R Federrath, Christoph Kewley, Lisa J Goldbaum, Nathan J Sharp, Rob |
author_sort |
Acharyya, Ayan |
title |
Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients |
title_short |
Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients |
title_full |
Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients |
title_fullStr |
Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients |
title_sort |
quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1100 http://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/mnras/staa1100/33131750/staa1100.pdf http://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-pdf/495/4/3819/33364413/staa1100.pdf |
genre |
sami |
genre_facet |
sami |
op_source |
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society volume 495, issue 4, page 3819-3838 ISSN 0035-8711 1365-2966 |
op_rights |
https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1100 |
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
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495 |
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4 |
container_start_page |
3819 |
op_container_end_page |
3838 |
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1797568814025539584 |