Euclid preparation

LXXXI. The impact of nonparametric star formation histories on spatially resolved galaxy property estimation using synthetic Euclid images

¹ STAR Institute, University of Liège, Quartier Agora, Allée du six Août 19c, 4000 Liège, Belgium
² Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, 9000 Gent, Belgium
³ Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
⁴ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
⁵ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Via dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
⁶ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700, AV, Groningen, The Netherlands
⁷ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁸ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna; Universidad de La Laguna, Dpto. Astrofísica, E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁹ INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
¹⁰ Universidad de La Laguna, Dpto. Astrofísica, E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
¹¹ Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza de las Ciencias 2, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
¹² School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
¹³ Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC), Campus UAB, Carrer de Can Magrans s/n, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁴ Univ. Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, UMR 9189 CRIStAL, 59000 Lille, France
¹⁵ Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut d’astrophysique spatiale, 91405 Orsay, France
¹⁶ Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Technikerstr. 25/8, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
¹⁷ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Brera 28, 20122 Milano, Italy
¹⁸ INAF-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁹ IFPU, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, via Beirut 2, 34151 Trieste, Italy
²⁰ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G. B. Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
²¹ INFN, Sezione di Trieste, Via Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste, TS, Italy
²² SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies, Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, TS, Italy
²³ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
²⁴ INFN-Sezione di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
²⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy
²⁶ INFN-Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy
²⁷ Department of Physics “E. Pancini”, University Federico II, Via Cinthia 6, 80126 Napoli, Italy
²⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
²⁹ INFN-Sezione di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
³⁰ INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
³¹ European Space Agency/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201, AZ, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
³² Institute Lorentz, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333, CA, Leiden, The Netherlands
³³ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
³⁴ INAF-IASF Milano, Via Alfonso Corti 12, 20133 Milano, Italy
³⁵ Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Avenida Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain
³⁶ Port d’Informació Científica, Campus UAB C. Albareda s/n, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
³⁷ Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology (TTK), RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany
³⁸ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monteporzio Catone, Italy
³⁹ INFN section of Naples, Via Cinthia 6, 80126 Napoli, Italy
⁴⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Augusto Righi” – Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
⁴¹ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁴² Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
⁴³ European Space Agency/ESRIN, Largo Galileo Galilei 1, 00044, Frascati, Roma, Italy
⁴⁴ ESAC/ESA, Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n. Urb. Villafranca del Castillo, 28692, Villanueva de la Cañada Madrid, Spain
⁴⁵ Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, IP2I Lyon, UMR 5822, Villeurbanne, F-69100, France
⁴⁶ Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
⁴⁷ Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig de Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
⁴⁸ UCB Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, IUF, IP2I Lyon, 4 rue Enrico Fermi, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
⁴⁹ Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Edifício C8, Campo Grande, PT1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
⁵⁰ Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
⁵¹ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, ch. d’Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
⁵² INFN-Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁵³ INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00100 Roma, Italy
⁵⁴ Space Science Data Center, Italian Space Agency, via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁵⁵ INFN-Bologna, Via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna, Italy
⁵⁶ Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France
⁵⁷ Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 München, Germany
⁵⁸ Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstr. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁵⁹ Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029 Blindern, 0315, Oslo, Norway
⁶⁰ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
⁶¹ Felix Hormuth Engineering, Goethestr. 17, 69181 Leimen, Germany
⁶² Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
⁶³ Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Denmark
⁶⁴ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
⁶⁵ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
⁶⁶ Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2 University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
⁶⁷ Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁶⁸ Université de Genève, Département de Physique Théorique and Centre for Astroparticle Physics, 24 quai Ernest-Ansermet, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
⁶⁹ Department of Physics, P.O. Box 64, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
⁷⁰ Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
⁷¹ Laboratoire d’etude de l’Univers et des phenomenes eXtremes, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 92190 Meudon, France
⁷² SKAO, Jodrell Bank, Lower Withington, Macclesfield SK11 9FT, UK
⁷³ Centre de Calcul de l’IN2P3/CNRS, 21 avenue Pierre de Coubertin, 69627 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
⁷⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
⁷⁵ INFN-Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
⁷⁶ Universität Bonn, Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
⁷⁷ INFN-Sezione di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 2 – c/o Dipartimento di Fisica Edificio G. Marconi, 00185 Roma, Italy
⁷⁸ Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France
⁷⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Augusto Righi” – Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, via Piero Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁸⁰ Department of Physics, Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
⁸¹ Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Astroparticule et Cosmologie, 75013 Paris, France
⁸² CNRS-UCB International Research Laboratory, Centre Pierre Binétruy, IRL2007, CPB-IN2P3 Berkeley, USA
⁸³ University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Northwestern Switzerland, School of Engineering, 5210 Windisch, Switzerland
⁸⁴ Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
⁸⁵ Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, and Sorbonne Université, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
⁸⁶ Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
⁸⁷ Telespazio UK S.L. for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
⁸⁸ Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
⁸⁹ DARK, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 155, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
⁹⁰ Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales – Centre spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁹¹ Institute of Space Science, Str. Atomistilor nr. 409 Măgurele, Ilfov 077125, Romania
⁹² Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G. Galilei”, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁹³ Institut für Theoretische Physik, University of Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁹⁴ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 14 Av. Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
⁹⁵ Université St Joseph; Faculty of Sciences, Beirut, Lebanon
⁹⁶ Departamento de Física, FCFM, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2008 Santiago, Chile
⁹⁷ Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), Edifici RDIT, Campus UPC, 08860, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
⁹⁸ Satlantis, University Science Park, Sede Bld 48940 Leioa-Bilbao, Spain
⁹⁹ Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018 Lisboa, Portugal
¹⁰⁰ Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
¹⁰¹ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 128, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
¹⁰² Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Departamento de Electrónica y Tecnología de Computadoras, Plaza del Hospital 1, 30202 Cartagena, Spain
¹⁰³ Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
¹⁰⁴ INAF, Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via Piero Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁰⁵ Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley (OAVdA), Loc. Lignan 39, I-11020 Nus (Aosta Valley), Italy
¹⁰⁶ Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice cedex 4, France
¹⁰⁷ Department of Physics, Oxford University, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK
¹⁰⁸ Aurora Technology for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
¹⁰⁹ Department of Mathematics and Physics E. De Giorgi, University of Salento, Via per Arnesano CP-I93, 73100 Lecce, Italy
¹¹⁰ INFN, Sezione di Lecce, Via per Arnesano CP-193, 73100 Lecce, Italy
¹¹¹ INAF-Sezione di Lecce, c/o Dipartimento Matematica e Fisica, Via per Arnesano, 73100 Lecce, Italy
¹¹² ICL, Junia, Université Catholique de Lille, LITL, 59000 Lille, France
¹¹³ ICSC – Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in High Performance Computing, Big Data e Quantum Computing, Via Magnanelli 2 Bologna, Italy
¹¹⁴ Instituto de Física Teórica UAM-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
¹¹⁵ CERCA/ISO, Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
¹¹⁶ Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Physics Department, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
¹¹⁷ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
¹¹⁸ Laboratoire Univers et Théorie, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Université Paris Cité, CNRS, 92190 Meudon, France
¹¹⁹ Departamento de Física Fundamental. Universidad de Salamanca. Plaza de la Merced s/n., 37008 Salamanca, Spain
¹²⁰ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, 67000 Strasbourg, France
¹²¹ Center for Data-Driven Discovery, Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
¹²² Dipartimento di Fisica – Sezione di Astronomia, Università di Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, 34131 Trieste, Italy
¹²³ California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
¹²⁴ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
¹²⁵ Departamento Física Aplicada, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Campus Muralla del Mar, 30202, Cartagena, Murcia, Spain
¹²⁶ Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Edificio Juan Jordá, Avenida de los Castros, 39005 Santander, Spain
¹²⁷ CEA Saclay, DFR/IRFU, Service d’Astrophysique, Bat. 709, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
¹²⁸ Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX, UK
¹²⁹ Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, PO Box 15400 Espoo, FI-00 076, Finland
¹³⁰ Caltech/IPAC, 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
¹³¹ Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Astronomical Institute (AIRUB), German Centre for Cosmological Lensing (GCCL), 44780 Bochum, Germany
¹³² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vesilinnantie 5, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
¹³³ Serco for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
¹³⁴ ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, Melbourne, Australia
¹³⁵ Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia
¹³⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Via Giuseppe Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
¹³⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town, 7535, South Africa
¹³⁸ DAMTP, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK
¹³⁹ Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge, Madingley Road Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK
¹⁴⁰ Department of Astrophysics, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
¹⁴¹ Department of Physics, Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University, South Road Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
¹⁴² IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
¹⁴³ Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SE-106 91, Sweden
¹⁴⁴ Astrophysics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
¹⁴⁵ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LPSC-IN2P3, 53 Avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France
¹⁴⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy
¹⁴⁷ Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal
¹⁴⁸ Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, PT4150-762 Porto, Portugal
¹⁴⁹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, Via Maggini, 64100 Teramo, Italy
¹⁵⁰ Theoretical astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 751 37 Uppsala, Sweden
¹⁵¹ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
¹⁵² Mathematical Institute, University of Leiden, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁵³ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK
¹⁵⁴ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
¹⁵⁵ Space physics and astronomy research unit, University of Oulu, Pentti Kaiteran katu 1, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
¹⁵⁶ Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Avenue, 10010 New York, NY, USA

^★ Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 17 July 2025
Accepted: 15 November 2025

Abstract

Aims. We analyzed the spatially resolved and global star formation histories (SFHs) for a sample of 25 TNG50-SKIRT Atlas galaxies to assess the feasibility of reconstructing accurate SFHs from Euclid-like data. This study provides a proof of concept for extracting the spatially resolved SFHs of local galaxies with Euclid, highlighting the strengths and limitations of SFH modeling in the context of next-generation galaxy surveys.

Methods. We used the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code Prospector to model both spatially resolved and global SFHs using parametric and nonparametric configurations. The input consisted of mock ultraviolet–near-infrared photometry derived from the TNG50 cosmological simulation and processed with the radiative transfer code SKIRT.

Results. We show that nonparametric SFHs provide a more effective approach to mitigating the outshining effect by recent star formation, offering improved accuracy in the determination of galaxy stellar properties. Also, we find that the nonparametric SFH model at resolved scales closely recovers the stellar mass formation times (within 0.1 dex) and the ground truth values from TNG50, with an absolute average bias of 0.03 dex in stellar mass and 0.01 dex in both specific star formation rate and mass-weighted age. In contrast, larger offsets are estimated for all stellar properties and formation times when using a simple τ-model SFH, at both resolved and global scales, highlighting its limitations.

Conclusions. These results emphasize the critical role of nonparametric SFHs in both global and spatially resolved analyses, as they better capture the complex evolutionary pathways of galaxies and avoid the biases inherent in simple parametric models.