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2 years ago in Astrophysics , Observational Astronomy By Prajwal Sharma
How can we estimate the stellar mass of a low-redshift starburst galaxy (SFR > 10 M‑/yr), and how accurate is it?
In my analysis of local starbursts, I need robust stellar masses to calculate key scaling relations, like the star-forming main sequence. Methods like SED fitting seem sensitive to the assumed star-formation history and dust, while near-IR photometry might be contaminated by hot dust emission. I'm seeking advice on best practices and realistic error bars for these dynamic objects.
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By Neethi Answered 1 year ago
For starbursts, I recommend a two-pronged approach to bracket the uncertainty. First, use high-quality near-infrared data (K-band or 3.6μm), which best traces older stellar mass, but be cautious of hot dust contamination from the starburst itself. Second, perform SED fitting across UV to IR wavelengths, explicitly testing different star-formation histories and dust laws. The accuracy is rarely better than 0.2-0.3 dex (a factor of ~1.6-2). The dominant error isn't measurement noise; it's systematics from the assumed IMF and the dust correction. I've seen masses shift by a factor of two simply by switching from a Chabrier to a top-heavy IMF.
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