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arXiv · 1303.0320

The Stellar Masses of Disk Galaxies and the Calibration of Color-Mass to Light Ratio Relations

Stacy McGaugh·Jim Schombert
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Abstract

We present new Spitzer 3.6 micron observations of a sample of disk galaxies spanning over 10 magnitudes in luminosity and ranging in gas fraction from ~10% to over 90%. We use these data to test population synthesis prescriptions for computing stellar mass. Many commonly employed models fail to provide self-consistent stellar masses in the sense that the stellar mass estimated from the optical luminosity typically exceeds that estimated from the near-infrared (NIR) luminosity. This problem is present in models both with and without TP-AGB stars, but is more severe in the former. Self-consistency can be achieved if NIR mass-to-light ratios are approximately constant with a mean value near 0.5 Msun/Lsun at 3.6 microns. We use the Baryonic Tully-Fisher relation calibrated by gas rich galaxies to provide an independent estimate of the color-mass to light ratio relation. This approach also suggests that the typical 3.6 micron mass-to-light ratio is 0.5 (0.65 in the K band) for rotationally supported galaxies. These values are consistent with a Kroupa IMF.

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Stacy McGaugh, Jim Schombert. 2014-02-19. The Stellar Masses of Disk Galaxies and the Calibration of Color-Mass to Light Ratio Relations. https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.0320

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