BAYES-LOSVD: A Bayesian framework for non-parametric extraction of the line-of-sight velocity distribution of galaxies

Falcón-Barroso, J.; Martig, M.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Advertised on:
2
2021
Number of authors
2
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
10
Refereed citations
7
Description
We introduce BAYES-LOSVD, a novel implementation of the non-parametric extraction of line-of-sight velocity distributions (LOSVDs) in galaxies. We employed Bayesian inference to obtain robust LOSVDs and associated uncertainties. Our method relies on a principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality on the set of templates required for the extraction and thus increase the performance of the code. In addition, we implemented several options to regularise the output solutions. Our tests, conducted on mock spectra, confirm the ability of our approach to model a wide range of LOSVD shapes, overcoming limitations of the most widely used parametric methods (e.g., Gauss-Hermite expansion). We present examples of LOSVD extractions for real galaxies with known peculiar LOSVD shapes, including NGC 4371, IC 0719, and NGC 4550, using MUSE and SAURON integral-field unit (IFU) data. Our implementation can also handle data from other popular IFU surveys (e.g., ATLAS3D, CALIFA, MaNGA, SAMI).

Details of the code and relevant documentation are freely available in the dedicated repository: http://https://github.com/jfalconbarroso/BAYES-LOSVD
Related projects
Group members
Traces of Galaxy Formation: Stellar populations, Dynamics and Morphology

We are a large, diverse, and very active research group aiming to provide a comprehensive picture for the formation of galaxies in the Universe. Rooted in detailed stellar population analysis, we are constantly exploring and developing new tools and ideas to understand how galaxies came to be what we now observe.

Ignacio
Martín Navarro