Modeling the Panchromatic Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies

TL;DR

This paper reviews how spectral energy distributions of galaxies, shaped by various physical properties, can be modeled to extract key information like stellar masses, star formation rates, metallicities, and dust characteristics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of stellar population synthesis techniques and discusses the reliably measurable physical parameters from galaxy SEDs.

Findings

Stellar masses and star formation rates can be reliably derived from SEDs.

Metallicities and dust properties are accessible through spectral modeling.

The review highlights current limitations and future prospects in SPS methods.

Abstract

The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies are shaped by nearly every physical property of the system, including the star formation history, metal content, abundance pattern, dust mass, grain size distribution, star-dust geometry, and interstellar radiation field. The principal goal of stellar population synthesis (SPS) is to extract these variables from observed SEDs. In this review I provide an overview of the SPS technique and discuss what can be reliably measured from galaxy SEDs. Topics include stellar masses, star formation rates and histories, metallicities and abundance patterns, dust properties, and the stellar initial mass function.