A framework for empirical galaxy phenomenology

We properly account for scatter in the stellar mass-star formation rate relation and the evolving fraction of passive systems and find that the latter effect is almost solely responsible for the age distributions among z~0 galaxies with stellar masses above ~10^10^ M_{sun}_.

However, while we qualitatively agree with the observed median stellar metallicity as a function of stellar mass, we attribute our inability to reproduce the distribution in detail largely to a combination of imperfect gas-phase metallicity and {alpha}/Fe ratio calibrations. Our formalism will benefit from new observational constraints and, in turn, improve interpretations of future data by providing self-consistent star formation histories for population synthesis modelling.