• Corpus ID: 54070919

Parametrising Star Formation Histories

@article{Simha2014ParametrisingSF,
  title={Parametrising Star Formation Histories},
  author={Vimal Simha and David H. Weinberg and Charlie Conroy and Romeel Dav{\'e} and Mark A. Fardal and Neal Katz and Benjamin D. Oppenheimer},
  journal={arXiv: Astrophysics of Galaxies},
  year={2014}
}

• V. Simha, D. Weinberg, +4 authors B. Oppenheimer
• Published 1 April 2014
• Physics
• arXiv: Astrophysics of Galaxies

We examine the star formation histories (SFHs) of galaxies in smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations, compare them to parametric models that are commonly used in fitting observed galaxy spectral energy distributions, and examine the efficacy of these parametric models as practical tools for recovering the physical parameters of galaxies. The commonly used �-model, with u M� / e (t t i)/� , provides a poor match to the SFH of our SPH galaxies, with a mismatch between early and late star formation that leads to systematic errors in predicting colours and stellar mass-to-light ratios. A one-parameter lin-exp model, with u