Classification of VIPERS galaxy spectra Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Dubois J.
  2. Siudek M.
  3. Fraix-Burnet D.
  4. Moultaka J.
  5. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

This study aims to trace the chronological evolution of galaxy spectra over cosmic time. Focusing on the VIPERS dataset, we seek to understand the diverse population of galaxies within narrow redshift bins, comparing our findings with the previously mapped diversity of SDSS galaxies. We use Fisher-EM, an unsupervised subspace model-based classification algorithm to classify a dataset of 79224 galaxy spectra from the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). The dataset was divided into 26 samples by bins of redshift ranging from z=0.4 to z=1.2, which were classified independently. Classes of subsequent bins were linked through the k-Nearest Neighbour method to create a chronological tree of classes at different epochs. Based on the optical spectra, three main chronological galaxy branches have emerged: (i) red passive, (ii) blue star-forming, and (iii) very blue, possibly associated with AGN activity. Each of the branches differentiates into sub-branches discriminating finer properties such as D4000 break, colour, star-formation rate, and stellar masses and/or disappear with cosmic time. Notably, these classes align remarkably well with the branches identified in a previous SDSS analysis, indicating a robust and consistent classification across datasets. The chronological tree constructed from VIPERS data provides valuable insights into the temporal evolution of these spectral classes. The synergy between VIPERS and SDSS datasets enhances our understanding of the evolutionary pathways of galaxy spectra. The remarkable correspondence between independently derived branches in both datasets underscores the reliability of our unsupervised machine-learning approach. The three sub-trees show complex branching structures highlighting different physical and evolutionary behaviours. This study contributes to the broader comprehension of galaxy evolution by providing a chronologically organised framework for interpreting optical spectra within specific redshift ranges.

Keywords
  1. galaxies
  2. radio-spectroscopy
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2024A&A...687A..76D
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/687/A76
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/687/A76

Access

Web browser access HTML
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/687/A76
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/687/A76
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/687/A76
IVOA Table Access TAP
http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).

History

2024-06-27T07:58:45Z
Resource record created
2024-06-27T07:01:28Z
Updated
2024-06-27T07:58:45Z
Created

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr