THE BURSTY STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF LOW-MASS GALAXIES AT 0.4 < z < 1 REVEALED BY STAR FORMATION RATES MEASURED FROM Hβ AND FUV

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 H β and FUV (1500 Å) (H β -to-FUV ratio). Our sample contains 164 galaxies down to stellar mass ( M * ) of 10 8.5 M ⊙ in the CANDELS GOODS-N region, where Team Keck Redshift Survey Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope /WFC3 F275W images from CANDELS and Hubble Deep UV Legacy Survey are available. When the ratio of H β - and FUV-derived SFRs is measured, dust extinction correction is negligible (except for very dusty galaxies) with the Calzetti attenuation curve. The H β -to-FUV ratio of our sample increases with M * and SFR. The median ratio is ∼0.7 at M *  ∼ 10 8.5 M ⊙ (or SFR ∼ 0.5 M ⊙ yr −1 ) and increases to ∼1 at M *  ∼ 10 10 M ⊙ (or SFR ∼ 10 M ⊙ yr −1 ). At M *  < 10 9.5 M ⊙ , our median H β -to-FUV ratio is lower than that of local galaxies at the same M * , implying a redshift evolution. Bursty SFH on a timescale of a few tens of megayears on galactic scales provides a plausible explanation for our results, and the importance of the burstiness increases as M * decreases. Due to sample selection effects, our H β -to-FUV ratio may be an upper 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.