Deriving Physical Properties from Broadband Photometry with Prospector: Description of the Model and a Demonstration of its Accuracy Using 129 Galaxies in the Local Universe

Understand

Broadband photometry of galaxies measures an unresolved mix of complex stellar populations, gas, and dust.

• Interpreting these data is a challenge for models: many studies have shown that properties derived from modeling galaxy photometry are uncertain by a factor of two or more, and yet answering key questions in the field now requires higher accuracy than this.
• Here, we present a new model framework specifically designed for these complexities.
• Our model, Prospector-$\alpha$, includes dust attenuation and re-radiation, a flexible attenuation curve, nebular emission, stellar metallicity, and a 6-component nonparametric star formation history.