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The Bursty Star Formation Histories of Low-mass Galaxies at $0.4<z<1$ Revealed by Star Formation Rates Measured from FUV and H$\beta$

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .
(2016)cite arxiv:1604.05314Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to ApJ. Comments welcome.

Abstract

We investigate the burstiness of star formation histories (SFHs) of galaxies at $0.4<z<1$ by using the ratio of star formation rates (SFRs) measured from FUV (1500 \AA) and H$\beta$ (FUV--to--H$\beta$ ratio). Our sample contains 164 galaxies down to stellar mass (M*) of $10^8.5 M_ødot$ in the CANDELS GOODS-N region, where TKRS Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy and HST/WFC3 F275W images from CANDELS and HDUV are available. When the ratio of FUV- and H$\beta$-derived SFRs is measured, dust extinction correction is negligible (except for very dusty galaxies) with the Calzetti attenuation curve. The FUV--to--H$\beta$ ratio of our sample increases with the decrease of M* and SFR. The median ratio is $\sim$1 at M* $10^10 M_ødot$ (or SFR = 20 $M_ødot$/yr) and increases to $\sim$1.6 at M* $10^8.5 M_ødot$ (or SFR $0.5 M_ødot$/yr). At M* $< 10^9.5 M_ødot$, our median FUV--to--H$\beta$ ratio is higher than that of local galaxies at the same M*, implying a redshift evolution. Bursty SFH on a timescale of $\sim$10 Myr on galactic scales provides a plausible explanation of our results, and the importance of the burstiness increases as M* decreases. Due to sample selection effects, our FUV--to--H$\beta$ ratio may be a lower limit of the true value of a complete sample, which strengthens our conclusions. Other models, e.g., non-universal initial mass function or stochastic star formation on star cluster scales, are unable to plausibly explain our results.

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