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The model magnitude |
Important Note for EDR and DR1 data ONLY:Comparing the model (i.e., exponential and de Vaucouleurs fits) and Petrosian magnitudes of bright galaxies in EDR and DR1 data shows a systematic offset of about 0.2 magnitudes (in the sense that the model magnitudes are brighter). This turns out to be due to a bug in the way the PSF was convolved with the models (this bug affected the model magnitudes even when they were fit only to the central 4.4" radius of each object). This caused problems for very small objects (i.e., close to being unresolved). The code forces model and PSF magnitudes of unresolved objects to be the same in the mean by application of an aperture correction, which then gets applied to all objects. The net result is that the model magnitudes are fine for unresolved objects, but systematically offset for galaxies brighter than at least 20th mag. Therefore, model magnitudes should NOT be used in EDR and DR1 data. This problem has been corrected as of DR2.
Just as the PSF magnitudes
1. a pure deVaucouleurs profile:
2. a pure exponential profile Each model has an arbitrary axis ratio and position angle. Although for large objects it is possible and even desirable to fit more complicated models (e.g., bulge plus disk), the computational expense to compute them is not justified for the majority of the detected objects. The models are convolved with a double-Gaussian fit to the PSF, which is provided by psp. Residuals between the double-Gaussian and the full KL PSF model are added on for just the central PSF component of the image.
These fitting procedures yield the quantities
Note that these quantities correctly model the effects of the PSF. Errors for each of the last two quantities (which are based only on photon statistics) are also reported. We apply aperture corrections to make these model magnitudes equal the PSF magnitudes in the case of an unresolved object. In order to measure unbiased colors of galaxies, we measure their flux through equivalent apertures in all bands. We choose the model (exponential or deVaucouleurs) of higher likelihood in the r filter, and apply that model (i.e., allowing only the amplitude to vary) in the other bands after convolving with the appropriate PSF in each band. The resulting magnitudes are termed modelMag. The resulting estimate of galaxy color will be unbiased in the absence of color gradients. Systematic differences from Petrosian colors are in fact often seen due to color gradients, in which case the concept of a global galaxy color is somewhat ambiguous. For faint galaxies, the model colors have appreciably higher signal-to-noise ratio than do the Petrosian colors. Due to the way in which model fits are carried out, there is some weak discretization of model parameters, especially r_exp and r_deV. This is yet to be fixed. Two other issues (negative axis ratios, and bad model mags for bright objects) have been fixed since the EDR.
Caveat: At bright magnitudes (r <~ 18), model magnitudes
may not be a robust means to select objects by flux.
For example, model magnitudes in target |
