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The primary method for inferring the stellar mass ($M_*$) of a galaxy isthrough spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling. However, the techniquerests on assumptions such as the galaxy star formation history and dustattenuation law that can severely impact the accuracy of derived physicalproperties from SED modeling. Here, we examine the effect that the assumed starformation history (SFH) has on the stellar properties inferred from SED fittingby ground truthing them against mock observations of high-resolutioncosmological hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulations. Classically, SFHs aremodeled with simplified parameterized functional forms, but these forms areunlikely to capture the true diversity of galaxy SFHs and may impose systematicbiases with under-reported uncertainties on results. We demonstrate thatflexible nonparametric star formation histories outperform traditionalparametric forms in capturing variations in galaxy star formation histories,and as a result, lead to significantly improved stellar masses in SED fitting.We find a decrease in the average bias of 0.4 dex with a delayed-$\tau$ modelto a bias of just under 0.05 dex for the nonparametric model. Similarly, usingnonparametric star formation histories in SED fitting result in increasedaccuracy in recovered galaxy star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar ages.

How Well Can We Measure the Stellar Mass of a Galaxy: The Impact of the Assumed Star Formation History Model in SED Fitting