The SDSS-IV MaNGA Sample: Design, Optimization, and Usage Considerations

TL;DR

This paper details the design, optimization, and usage considerations of the SDSS-IV MaNGA galaxy survey, focusing on sample selection, coverage, and statistical correction methods for scientific analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel target selection strategy that ensures uniform angular size coverage and defines multiple galaxy samples with specific properties for comprehensive analysis.

Findings

Samples cover stellar masses from 5x10^8 to 3x10^{11} solar masses.

Median physical resolutions are 1.37 kpc for Primary and 2.5 kpc for Secondary samples.

Provides weights for correcting luminosity and color-dependent selection biases.

Abstract

We describe the sample design for the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey and present the final properties of the main samples along with important considerations for using these samples for science. Our target selection criteria were developed while simultaneously optimizing the size distribution of the MaNGA integral field units (IFUs), the IFU allocation strategy, and the target density to produce a survey defined in terms of maximizing S/N, spatial resolution, and sample size. Our selection strategy makes use of redshift limits that only depend on i-band absolute magnitude ($M_i$), or, for a small subset of our sample, $M_i$ and color (NUV-i). Such a strategy ensures that all galaxies span the same range in angular size irrespective of luminosity and are therefore covered evenly by the adopted range of IFU sizes. We define three samples: the Primary and Secondary samples are selected to have a flat number density with respect to $M_i$ and are targeted to have spectroscopic coverage to 1.5 and 2.5 effective radii (Re), respectively. The Color-Enhanced supplement increases the number of galaxies in the low-density regions of color-magnitude space by extending the redshift limits of the Primary sample in the appropriate color bins. The samples cover the stellar mass range $5\times10^8 \leq M_* \leq 3\times10^{11} M_{\odot}$ and are sampled at median physical resolutions of 1.37 kpc and 2.5 kpc for the Primary and Secondary samples respectively. We provide weights that will statistically correct for our luminosity and color-dependent selection function and IFU allocation strategy, thus correcting the observed sample to a volume limited sample.