The Sensitivity of the Redshift Distribution to Galaxy Demographics

TL;DR

This study uses simulations to analyze how galaxy demographic parameters influence redshift distributions in large surveys, highlighting the importance of star-forming galaxy parameters for deeper surveys.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation-based approach to assess the sensitivity of redshift distributions to galaxy population demographics, focusing on the Schechter function parameters.

Findings

Redshift distribution in shallow surveys is mainly sensitive to quenched galaxy parameters.

Deeper surveys are more affected by star-forming galaxy parameters, especially the slope of the characteristic magnitude.

Adjusting the parameter $a_M$ for star-forming galaxies significantly shifts the mean redshift.

Abstract

Photometric redshifts are commonly used to measure the distribution of galaxies in large surveys. However, the demands of ongoing and future large-scale cosmology surveys place very stringent limits on the redshift performance that are difficult to meet. A new approach to meet this precision need is forward modelling, which is underpinned by realistic simulations. In the work presented here, we use simulations to study the sensitivity of redshift distributions to the underlying galaxy population demographics. We do this by varying the redshift evolving parameters of the Schechter function for two galaxy populations, star-forming and quenched galaxies. Each population is characterised by eight parameters. We find that the redshift distribution of shallow surveys, such as SDSS, is mainly sensitive to the parameters for quenched galaxies. However, for deeper surveys such as DES and HSC, the star-forming parameters have a stronger impact on the redshift distribution. Specifically, the slope of the characteristic magnitude, $a_\mathrm{M}$, for star-forming galaxies has overall the strongest impact on the redshift distribution. Decreasing $a_\mathrm{M}$ by 148 per cent (its given uncertainty) shifts the mean redshift by ${\sim} 45$ per cent. We explore which combination of colour and magnitude measurements are most sensitive to $a_\mathrm{M}$ and we find that each colour-magnitude pair studied is similarly affected by a modification of $a_\mathrm{M}$.