The outer light (stellar haloes) of massive galaxies has recently emerged as a possible low scatter tracer of dark matter halo mass. To test the robustness of outer light measurements across different data sets, we compare the 1D azimuthally averaged surface brightness profiles of massive galaxies using four independent data sets: the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey (HSC), the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and the Dragonfly Wide Field Survey (Dragonfly). We test the sky subtraction and proposed corrections for HSC and DECaLS. For galaxies at z < 0.05, Dragonfly has the best control of systematics, reaching surface brightness levels of μr ≈ 30 mag arcsec−2. At 0.19 < z < 0.50, HSC can reliably recover individual surface brightness profiles to μr ≈ 28.5 mag arcsec−2 (R = 100–150 kpc in semimajor axis). In a statistical sense, DECaLS agrees with HSC to R > 200 kpc. DECaLS and HSC measurements of the stellar mass contained within 100 kpc agree within 0.05 dex. Finally, we use weak lensing to show that measurements of outer light with DECaLS at 0.19 < z < 0.50 show a similar promise as HSC as a low scatter proxy of halo mass. The tests and results from this paper represent an important step forward for accurate measurements of the outer light of massive galaxies and demonstrate that outer light measurements from DECam imaging will be a promising method for finding galaxy clusters.
Li, Jiaxuan, et al. "Reaching for the Edge I: probing the outskirts of massive galaxies with HSC, DECaLS, SDSS, and Dragonfly." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 515, no. 4, Jul. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2121
Li, Jiaxuan, Huang, Song, Leauthaud, Alexie, Moustakas, John, Danieli, Shany, Greene, Jenny E., Abraham, Roberto, Ardila, Felipe, Kado-Fong, Erin, Lokhorst, Deborah, Lupton, Robert, & Price, Paul (2022). Reaching for the Edge I: probing the outskirts of massive galaxies with HSC, DECaLS, SDSS, and Dragonfly. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 515(4). https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2121
Li, Jiaxuan, Huang, Song, Leauthaud, Alexie, et al., "Reaching for the Edge I: probing the outskirts of massive galaxies with HSC, DECaLS, SDSS, and Dragonfly," Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 515, no. 4 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2121
@article{osti_1882264,
author = {Li, Jiaxuan and Huang, Song and Leauthaud, Alexie and Moustakas, John and Danieli, Shany and Greene, Jenny E. and Abraham, Roberto and Ardila, Felipe and Kado-Fong, Erin and Lokhorst, Deborah and others},
title = {Reaching for the Edge I: probing the outskirts of massive galaxies with HSC, DECaLS, SDSS, and Dragonfly},
annote = {ABSTRACT The outer light (stellar haloes) of massive galaxies has recently emerged as a possible low scatter tracer of dark matter halo mass. To test the robustness of outer light measurements across different data sets, we compare the 1D azimuthally averaged surface brightness profiles of massive galaxies using four independent data sets: the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey (HSC), the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and the Dragonfly Wide Field Survey (Dragonfly). We test the sky subtraction and proposed corrections for HSC and DECaLS. For galaxies at z < 0.05, Dragonfly has the best control of systematics, reaching surface brightness levels of μr ≈ 30 mag arcsec−2. At 0.19 < z < 0.50, HSC can reliably recover individual surface brightness profiles to μr ≈ 28.5 mag arcsec−2 (R = 100–150 kpc in semimajor axis). In a statistical sense, DECaLS agrees with HSC to R > 200 kpc. DECaLS and HSC measurements of the stellar mass contained within 100 kpc agree within 0.05 dex. Finally, we use weak lensing to show that measurements of outer light with DECaLS at 0.19 < z < 0.50 show a similar promise as HSC as a low scatter proxy of halo mass. The tests and results from this paper represent an important step forward for accurate measurements of the outer light of massive galaxies and demonstrate that outer light measurements from DECam imaging will be a promising method for finding galaxy clusters.},
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stac2121},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1882264},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
issn = {ISSN 0035-8711},
number = {4},
volume = {515},
place = {United Kingdom},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
year = {2022},
month = {07}}
Siena College, Loudonville, NY (United States); University of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019301; SC0020086
OSTI ID:
1882264
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2503557 OSTI ID: 1979544
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 515; ISSN 0035-8711