Stellar masses, sizes, and radial profiles for 465 nearby early-type galaxies: An extension to the<i>Spitzer</i>survey of stellar structure in Galaxies (S<sup>4</sup>G)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Context. The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S 4 G) is a detailed study of over 2300 nearby galaxies in the near-infrared (NIR), which has been critical to our understanding of the detailed structures of nearby galaxies. Because the sample galaxies were selected only using radio-derived velocities, however, the survey favored late-type disk galaxies over lenticulars and ellipticals. Aims. A follow-up Spitzer survey was conducted to rectify this bias, adding 465 early-type galaxies (ETGs) to the original sample, to be analyzed in a manner consistent with the initial survey. We present the data release of this ETG extension, up to the third data processing pipeline (P3): surface photometry. Methods. We produce curves of growth and radial surface brightness profiles (with and without inclination corrections) using reduced and masked Spitzer IRAC 3.6 μm and 4.5 μm images produced through Pipelines 1 and 2, respectively. From these profiles, we derive the following integrated quantities: total magnitudes, stellar masses, concentration parameters, and galaxy size metrics. We showcase NIR scaling relations for ETGs among these quantities. Results. We examine general trends across the whole S 4 G and ETG extension among our derived parameters, highlighting differences between ETGs and late-type galaxies (LTGs). The latter are, on average, more massive and more concentrated than LTGs, and subtle distinctions are seen among ETG morphological subtypes. We also derive the following scaling relations and compare them with previous results in visible light: mass-size (both half-light and isophotal), mass-concentration, mass-surface brightness (central, effective, and within 1 kpc), and mass-color. Conclusions. We find good agreement with previous works, though some relations (e.g., mass-central surface brightness) will require more careful multicomponent decompositions to be fully understood. The relations between mass and isophotal radius and between mass and surface brightness within 1 kpc, in particular, show notably small scatter. The former provides important constraints on the limits of size growth in galaxies, possibly related to star formation thresholds, while the latter–particularly when paired with the similarly tight relation for LTGs–showcases the striking self-similarity of galaxy cores, suggesting they evolve little over cosmic time. All of the profiles and parameters described in this paper will be provided to the community via the NASA/IPAC database on a dedicated website.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.002 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".