Published May 2020 | Version Accepted Version + Published
Journal Article Open

Euclid: the selection of quiescent and star-forming galaxies using observed colours

  • 1. ROR icon University of Nottingham
  • 2. ROR icon Brera Astronomical Observatory
  • 3. ROR icon Observatory of Strasbourg
  • 4. ROR icon Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
  • 5. ROR icon University of Porto
  • 6. ROR icon University of Portsmouth
  • 7. ROR icon University of Bologna
  • 8. ROR icon Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
  • 9. ROR icon Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino
  • 10. ROR icon Institute for High Energy Physics
  • 11. ROR icon Institute of Space Sciences
  • 12. ROR icon Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya
  • 13. ROR icon Astronomical Observatory of Rome
  • 14. ROR icon University of Naples Federico II
  • 15. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Napoli
  • 16. ROR icon Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte
  • 17. ROR icon Centre National d'Études Spatiales
  • 18. ROR icon University of Edinburgh
  • 19. ROR icon European Space Astronomy Centre
  • 20. ROR icon University College London
  • 21. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Padova
  • 22. ROR icon Trieste Astronomical Observatory
  • 23. ROR icon von Hoerner & Sulger (Germany)
  • 24. ROR icon Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • 25. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
  • 26. ROR icon Center for Particle Physics of Marseilles
  • 27. ROR icon University of Geneva
  • 28. ROR icon French National Centre for Scientific Research
  • 29. ROR icon University of Oslo
  • 30. ROR icon University of Bonn
  • 31. ROR icon Durham University
  • 32. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 33. ROR icon University of Paris
  • 34. ROR icon Sorbonne University
  • 35. ROR icon Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
  • 36. ROR icon Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
  • 37. ROR icon École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
  • 38. ROR icon Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation
  • 39. ROR icon Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
  • 40. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
  • 41. ROR icon University of Lisbon
  • 42. ROR icon Polytechnic University of Cartagena
  • 43. ROR icon INFN Sezione di Bologna
  • 44. ROR icon Infrared Processing and Analysis Center

Abstract

The Euclid mission will observe well over a billion galaxies out to z ∼ 6 and beyond. This will offer an unrivalled opportunity to investigate several key questions for understanding galaxy formation and evolution. The first step for many of these studies will be the selection of a sample of quiescent and star-forming galaxies, as is often done in the literature by using well-known colour techniques such as the 'UVJ' diagram. However, given the limited number of filters available for the Euclid telescope, the recovery of such rest-frame colours will be challenging. We therefore investigate the use of observed Euclid colours, on their own and together with ground-based u-band observations, for selecting quiescent and star-forming galaxies. The most efficient colour combination, among the ones tested in this work, consists of the (u − VIS) and (VIS − J) colours. We find that this combination allows users to select a sample of quiescent galaxies complete to above ∼70 per cent and with less than 15 per cent contamination at redshifts in the range 0.75 < z < 1. For galaxies at high-z or without the u-band complementary observations, the (VIS − Y) and (J − H) colours represent a valid alternative, with >65 per cent completeness level and contamination below 20 per cent at 1 < z < 2 for finding quiescent galaxies. In comparison, the sample of quiescent galaxies selected with the traditional UVJ technique is only ∼20 per cent complete at z < 3, when recovering the rest-frame colours using mock Euclid observations. This shows that our new methodology is the most suitable one when only Euclid bands, along with u-band imaging, are available.

Additional Information

© 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). Accepted 2020 March 12. Received 2020 March 10; in original form 2020 January 7. Published: 07 April 2020. UK acknowledges support from STFC. CC acknowledges the support of the STFC Cosmic Vision funding. CT acknowledges funding from the INAF PRIN-SKA 2017 programme 1.05.01.88.04. The Euclid Consortium acknowledges the European Space Agency and the support of a number of agencies and institutes that have supported the development of Euclid, in particular the Academy of Finland, the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, the Belgian Science Policy, the Canadian Euclid Consortium, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, the Danish Space Research Institute, the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Netherlandse Onderzoekschool Voor Astronomie, the Norwegian Space Agency, the Romanian Space Agency, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) at the Swiss Space Office (SSO), and the United Kingdom Space Agency. A detailed complete list is available on the Euclid website (http://www.euclid-ec.org).

Attached Files

Published - staa885.pdf

Accepted Version - 2003.07367.pdf

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2003.07367.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
103853
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20200611-120605467

Related works

Funding

Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)
PRIN-SKA 2017
European Space Agency (ESA)
Academy of Finland
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO)
Canadian Euclid Consortium
Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
Danish Space Research Institute
Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT)
Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO)
NASA
Nederlandse Onderzoekschool Voor Astronomie (NOVA)
Norwegian Space Agency
Romanian Space Agency
State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)
Swiss Space Office (SSO)
United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA)

Dates

Created
2020-06-11
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

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