The ALHAMBRA survey: tight dependence of the optical mass-to-light ratio on galaxy colour up to z = 1.5

Aims: Our goal is to characterise the dependence of the optical mass-to-light ratio on galaxy colour up to z = 1.5, expanding the redshift range explored in previous work.
Methods: From the redshifts, stellar masses, and rest-frame luminosities of the ALHAMBRA multi-filter survey, we derive the mass-to-light ratio versus colour relation for quiescent and for star-forming galaxies. The intrinsic relation and its physical dispersion are derived with a Bayesian inference model.
Results: The rest-frame i-band mass-to-light ratio of quiescent and star-forming galaxies presents a tight correlation with the rest-frame (g - i) colour up to z = 1.5. The mass-to-light ratio versus colour relation is linear for quiescent galaxies and quadratic for star-forming galaxies. The intrinsic dispersion in these relations is 0.02 dex for quiescent galaxies and 0.06 dex for star-forming ones. The derived relations do not present a significant redshift evolution and are compatible with previous local results in the literature. Finally, these tight relations also hold for g- and r-band luminosities.
Conclusions: The derived mass-to-light ratio versus colour relations in ALHAMBRA can be used to predict the mass-to-light ratio from a rest-frame optical colour up to z = 1.5. These tight correlations do not change with redshift, suggesting that galaxies have evolved along the derived relations during the last 9 Gyr.

Based on observations collected at the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre, Calar Alto, jointly operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA) at Heidelberg and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC).