Value Added Catalog of physical properties of more than 1.3 million galaxies from the DESI Survey

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive catalog of physical properties for over 1.3 million galaxies from the DESI survey, covering a wide redshift range and diverse galaxy types, using SED fitting with WISE data.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale catalog with detailed galaxy properties derived from optical and infrared SED fitting, highlighting the importance of WISE data for accurate classifications.

Findings

WISE data is essential to correctly classify star-forming galaxies and AGN.

Omission of WISE bands leads to higher AGN fractions in star-forming galaxies.

Stellar mass estimates are robust against model choices and WISE data availability.

Abstract

Aims. We present an extensive catalog of the physical properties of more than a million galaxies within the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), one of the largest spectroscopic surveys to date. Spanning over a full variety of target types, including emission line galaxies and luminous red galaxies as well as quasars, our survey encompasses an unprecedented range of spectroscopic redshifts, stretching from 0 to 6. Methods. The physical properties, such as stellar masses and star formation rates, are derived via the CIGALE spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code accounting for the contribution coming from active galactic nuclei (AGN). Based on the modeling of the optical-mid-infrared (grz complemented by WISE photometry) SEDs, we study galaxy properties with respect to their location on the main sequence. Results. We revise the dependence of stellar mass estimates on model choices and availability of the WISE photometry. The WISE information is mandatory to minimize the misclassification of star-forming galaxies as AGN. The lack of WISE bands in SED fits leads to elevated AGN fractions for 68% of star-forming galaxies identified using emission line diagnostic diagram but does not significantly affect their stellar mass nor star formation estimates.