Testing the Recovery of Intrinsic Galaxy Sizes and Masses of z~2 Massive
  Galaxies Using Cosmological Simulations
  Accurate measurements of galaxy masses and sizes are key to tracing galaxy
evolution over time. Cosmological zoom-in simulations provide an ideal test bed
for assessing the recovery of galaxy properties from observations. Here, we
utilize galaxies with $M_*\sim10^{10}-10^{11.5}M_{\odot}$ at z~1.7-2 from the
MassiveFIRE cosmological simulation suite, part of the Feedback in Realistic
Environments (FIRE) project. Using mock multi-band images, we compare intrinsic
galaxy masses and sizes to observational estimates. We find that observations
accurately recover stellar masses, with a slight average underestimate of ~0.06
dex and a ~0.15 dex scatter. Recovered half-light radii agree well with
intrinsic half-mass radii when averaged over all viewing angles, with a
systematic offset of ~0.1 dex (with the half-light radii being larger) and a
scatter of ~0.2 dex. When using color gradients to account for mass-to-light
variations, recovered half-mass radii also exceed the intrinsic half-mass radii
by ~0.1 dex. However, if not properly accounted for, aperture effects can bias
size estimates by ~0.1 dex. No differences are found between the mass and size
offsets for star-forming and quiescent galaxies. Variations in viewing angle
are responsible for ~25% of the scatter in the recovered masses and sizes. Our
results thus suggest that the intrinsic scatter in the mass-size relation may
have previously been overestimated by ~25%. Moreover, orientation-driven
scatter causes the number density of very massive galaxies to be overestimated
by ~0.5 dex at $M_*\sim10^{11.5}M_{\odot}$.
