HST H{\alpha} grism spectroscopy of ROLES: a flatter low-mass slope for the z~1 SSFR--mass relation

TL;DR

This study measures star formation rates in low-mass galaxies at z~1 using HST H-alpha spectroscopy, revealing a flatter SSFR--mass relation slope than previous H-alpha studies, with implications for galaxy evolution models.

Contribution

It provides the most complete spectroscopic measurement of the low-mass end of the SSFR--mass relation at z~1, using stacking techniques to reach lower SFRs than prior studies.

Findings

Flatter low-mass slope (-0.47) than previous H-alpha studies (~-1)

Discrepancy with EAGLE simulation predictions (-0.14)

Smaller gas-to-stellar extinction ratio than Calzetti law

Abstract

We present measurements of star formation rates (SFRs) for dwarf galaxies (M*~10^8.5 Msun ) at z~1 using near-infrared slitless spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) by targetting and measuring the luminosity of the H{\alpha} emission line. Our sample is derived from the Redshift One LDSS3 Emission Line Survey (ROLES), which used [O II]{\lambda} 3727 as a tracer of star formation to target very low stellar masses down to very low SFRs (~0.1 Msun yr^-1) at this epoch. Dust corrections are estimated using SED-fits and we find, by comparison with other studies using Balmer decrement dust corrections, that we require a smaller ratio between the gas phase and stellar extinction than the nominal Calzetti relation, in agreement with recent findings by other studies. By stacking the WFC3 spectra at the redshifts obtained from ground-based [O II] detections, we are able to push the WFC3 spectra to much lower SFRs and obtain the most complete spectroscopic measurement of the low mass end of the SSFR--mass relation to date. We measure a flatter low mass power law slope (-0.47 +/- 0.04) than found by other (shallower) H{\alpha}-selected samples (\approx -1), although still somewhat steeper than that predicted by the EAGLE simulation (-0.14 +/- 0.05), hinting at possible missing physics not modelled by EAGLE or remaining incompleteness for our H{\alpha} data.