Getting ready for the LSST data -- estimating the physical properties of $z<2.5$ main sequence galaxies

TL;DR

This study assesses how LSST data can be used to estimate physical properties of star-forming galaxies up to redshift 2.5, highlighting the potential and limitations of optical-only measurements.

Contribution

It demonstrates that stellar mass estimates from LSST are reliable, but star formation rate and dust luminosity are overestimated without auxiliary infrared data, emphasizing the need for combined observations.

Findings

Stellar masses from LSST agree with full UV-FIR estimates.

SFR and dust luminosity are overestimated when using LSST data alone.

Overestimation is linked to dust attenuation assumptions, requiring correction methods.

Abstract

In this work we study how to employ the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) data to constrain physical properties of normal, star forming galaxies. We use simulated LSST data and existing real observations to test the estimations of the physical properties of galaxies, such as star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass ($M_{star}$), and dust luminosity ($L_{dust}$). We focus on normal star-forming galaxies, as they form the majority of the galaxy population in the universe and therefore are more likely to be observed by the LSST. We perform a simulation of LSST observations and uncertainties of 50,385 real galaxies within redshift range $0<z<2.5$. In order to achieve this goal, we used the unique multi-wavelength data from the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP) survey. Our analysis focus on two fields: ELAIS-N1 and COSMOS. To obtain galaxy physical properties we fit their Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) using the Code Investigating GALaxy Emission (CIGALE). We compare the main galaxy physical properties obtained from the fit of the observed multi-wavelength photometry of galaxies (from UV to FIR) to the ones obtained from the simulated LSST optical measurements only. The stellar masses estimated based on the LSST measurements are in agreement with the full UV-FIR SED estimations, as they depend mainly on the UV and optical emission, well covered by LSST in the considered redshift range. We obtain a clear overestimation of SFR, $L_{dust}$, $M_{dust}$ estimated with LSST only, highly correlated with redshift. We investigate the cause of this overestimation and we conclude that it is related to an overestimation of the dust attenuation, both UV and NIR. We find that it is necessary to employ auxiliary rest-frame mid-infrared observations, simulated UV observations, or FUV attenuation (AFUV)- Mstar relation, to correct the overestimation.