Constraints-on-Physical-Properties-of-z～6-Galaxies-Using-Cosmological-Hydrodynamic-Simulations.pdfVIP

A Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 000–000 (0000) Printed 5 July 2006 (MN LT X style file v2.2) E Constraints on Physical Properties of z ∼ 6 Galaxies Using Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations Kristian Finlator, Romeel Dav´e, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 5 July 2006 ABSTRACT We introduce Spoc, a new code for constraining the physical properties of observed galaxies through a Bayesian likelihood comparison with galaxies drawn from simula- tions. Spoc inputs an object’s photometry and outputs probability distributions of stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), age, metallicity, dust extinction, and redshift (if none is given) for that galaxy. We apply Spoc, employing model galaxies drawn from ΛCDM cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, to Abell 2218 KESR (z ≈ 6.7) and five other z 5.5 galaxies for which published rest-frame ultraviolet and optical measurements are available. We compare the outcome of using our simulated galax- ies’ star formation histories (SFHs) versus using simple one-parameter SFHs such as constant, exponentially-decaying, and rising (a new form we introduce motivated by typical SFHs seen in our simulated galaxies). We show that simulated galaxies match these observations at least as well as simple SF