2006/06/07 by Michael R. Blanton, Sam Roweis, Sam T. Roweis · 1,663 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Redshift #Sky #Star formation #Stars #Stellar population #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/510127
published in The Astronomical Journal 133(2), 734-754 (Institute of Physics) · 43 pages, 20 figures, submitted to AJ, software and full-resolution figures available at http://cosmo.nyu.edu/blanton/kcorrect
arxiv created 2006/06/07 · openalex publication_date 2007/01/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08
Template fits to observed galaxy fluxes allow calculation of K -corrections and conversions among observations of galaxies at various wavelengths. We present a method for creating model-based template sets given a set of heterogeneous photometric and spectroscopic galaxy data. Our technique, nonnegative matrix factorization, is akin to principal component analysis (PCA), except that it is constrained to produce nonnegative templates, it can use a basis set of models (rather than the delta-function basis of PCA), and it naturally handles uncertainties, missing data, and heterogeneous data (including broadband fluxes at various redshifts). The particular implementation we present here is suitable for ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared observations in the redshift range 0 < z < 1.5. Since we base our templates on stellar population synthesis models, the results are interpretable in terms of approximate stellar masses and star formation histories. We present templates fitted with this method to data from Galaxy Evolution Explorer , Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy and photometry, the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe, and the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. In addition, we present software for using such data to estimate K -corrections.