Constraining Physical Properties of High-redshift Galaxies : Effects of Star-formation Histories

Constraining physical (or stellar population) properties - such as stellar mass, star-formation rate, stellar population age, and dust-extinction - of galaxies from observation is crucial in the study of galaxy evolution. This is very challenging especially for high-redshift galaxies, and a widely-used method to estimate physical properties of high-redshift galaxies is to compare their photometric spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to spectral templates from stellar population synthesis models. I will show that the SED-fitting results of high-redshift galaxies are strongly dependent on the assumed forms of star-formation histories. I will also present the results of SED-fitting analysis of observed Lyman-break galaxies which show that parametric models with gradually increasing star-formation histories provide better estimates of physical parameters of high-redshift (z>3) star-forming galaxies than traditionally-used exponentially declining star-formation histories. This result is also consistent with the predictions from the modern galaxy formation models.