J/ApJ/775/125ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/775/125doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.17750125CDSSanders N.E.Levesque E.M.Soderberg A.M.2015-05-14T18:37:46Z2015-04-17T12:51:53ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frgalaxiesphotometrychemical-abundancesastronomical-modelsThere is a well known correlation between the mass and metallicity of star-forming galaxies. Because mass is correlated with luminosity, this relation is often exploited, when spectroscopy is not available, to estimate galaxy metallicities based on single band photometry. However, we show that galaxy color is typically more effective than luminosity as a predictor of metallicity. This is a consequence of the correlation between color and the galaxy mass-to-light ratio and the recently discovered correlation between star formation rate (SFR) and residuals from the mass-metallicity relation. Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy of ~180000 nearby galaxies, we derive "LZC relations," empirical relations between metallicity (in seven common strong line diagnostics), luminosity, and color (in 10 filter pairs and four methods of photometry). We show that these relations allow photometric metallicity estimates, based on luminosity and a single optical color, that are ~50% more precise than those made based on luminosity alone; galaxy metallicity can be estimated to within ~0.05-0.1 dex of the spectroscopically derived value depending on the diagnostic used. Including color information in photometric metallicity estimates also reduces systematic biases for populations skewed toward high or low SFR environments, as we illustrate using the host galaxy of the supernova SN 2010ay. This new tool will lend more statistical power to studies of galaxy populations, such as supernova and gamma-ray burst host environments, in ongoing and future wide-field imaging surveys.2013ApJ...775..125Shttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/775/125CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic servicerelated-toJ/ApJ/765/140 : Stacked spectra of SDSS star forming galaxies (Andrews+, 2013)J/ApJ/758/133 : Metallicity profile of M31 HII regions and PNe (Sanders+, 2012)J/ApJ/743/149 : Color-metallicity relations. II. M87 GCs (Yoon+, 2011)J/ApJ/673/999 : Supernova and host galaxies metallicities (Prieto+, 2008)J/MNRAS/385/1270 : Age-metallicity relation via photometry (Li+, 2008)http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/SDSS : MPA/JHU SDSS studies home pagehttps://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/775/125https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/775/125http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/775/125https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/775/125https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/775/125http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/775/125GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapOpticaldefaultJ/ApJ/775/125/table2*Parameters of the LZC relationsrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintr_TypeModel type/description reference (1)meta.notecharTypeModel type/descriptionmeta.id;stat.fitcharFiltPhotometric band of luminosity (u, g, r or i)meta.code;instr.filtercharColorColor relation (SDSS colors)meta.code;instr.filtercharalphaOptimal value of color weighting factor {alpha} (minimize the scatter in metallicity) (2)stat.paramfloatp3The p_3_ parameter times 10^5^ (2)stat.paramfloatp2The p_2_ parameter times 10^3^ (2)stat.paramfloatp1The p_1_ parameter times 10^3^ (2)stat.paramdoublep0The p_0_ parameter (2)stat.fit.paramfloatsigZ0Scatter in Z residual {sigma}_Z,0_ of LZ relationstat.fit.residualfloatsigZScatter in Z residual {sigma}_Z_ of LZC relationstat.fit.residualfloatRatio[[0.68/0.98] Ratio of {sigma}_Z_/{sigma}_Z,0_ (3)stat.fit.omcfloatmu2[-35/-22] The 2nd percentile in the {mu} rangemagstat.paramfloatmu98[-24/-17] The 98th percentile in the {mu} rangemagstat.paramfloat