ALFALFA 2006: Status and Plans

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Marshall Thornton
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1 ALFALFA 2006: Status and Plans Martha Haynes, Cornell University 2006 ALFALFA Undergraduate Workshop We already have >1.3 TB of raw data, an equal amount of Level I data, and are starting to produce grids regularly. We will start again in August to undertake the Fall 2006 A2010 observing program! We are happy to arrange for first timers to be trained by an expert on site at Arecibo. There is LOTS of science to do! There are LOTS of ways to get involved! 1

2 Seeding ALFALFA As a legacy project being carried out by a group of university researchers at a NSF funded national center, ALFALFA is and must be a team effort Observing at Arecibo* and remotely Data reduction and analysis Correlative studies with other databases, e.g., SDSS Followup observations with other telescopes Modeling/simulation of interactions, processes * A lot more fun; especially recommended in winter 2

3 IDL for ALFALFA LOVEDATA Processing uses Interactive Data Language = IDL IDL is programming environment Educational/student licenses Astronomy IDL library has general Astro utilities LOVEDATA runs on Linux/MacOS Running at Cornell, Arecibo, Lafayette, Colgate, Wesleyan, Union, Indiana, Humboldt State Sabrina ran BPD on last night s data on her Mac laptop during Brian s talk this am. 3

4 ALFALFA websites Cornell website (public) Cornell website (team only; password required) Arecibo A2010 website (not obvious) Milano Followup Team wiki (password required) 4

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10 Keep track of what ALFALFA will/has/is cover/ed/ing 10

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12 A2010 coolhi 12

13 Raw data: archived at Arecibo Level I: 2-D processing can be exported archived at Cornell Level II: Gridded cubes processing can be exported archived at Cornell access through VO (eventually) A2010 Current dataset ~ 3TB 13

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http://www.naic.edu/~a2010/galaxy_a2010.

16 Arecibo project A2010 Observing information Observing plans and logs Observing cookbooks, Graphical schedules Reduction cookbookds Links to documentation 16

17 Past and upcoming schedules updated regularly 17

18 Links to observing logs updated daily by observer 18

19 ALFALFA is an active, on-going observing program Everything in science doesn t always work! BORING IS GOOD! 19

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24 Where we are now 24

25 The Local Group lies on the outskirts of the Local Supercluster. 25

26 The Virgo Cluster Virgo Cluster Catalog (BST85) ~2000 objects Based on morphological appearance Largely confirmed by redshift measurements 26 Binggeli, Sandage & Tammann 1985, AJ 90, 1681

27 ALFALFA already has covered this region from +16 southward to +4 27

28 Distances in the Virgo Region Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster orbit its center with speeds up to 1500 km/s. V obs = V Hub + V orb In the Virgo region, the redshift is NOT a good indicator of distance. Redshift-independent distances are available to some galaxies in Virgo, with more soon to come from the HST/ACS Virgo survey. Use known groupings in Virgo and known redshiftindependent distances to study Virgo structure so that we can estimate distances to ALFALFA galaxies better. 28

29 Growing ALFALFA Observing at Arecibo* and remotely Data reduction and analysis Correlative studies with other databases, e.g., SDSS Followup observations with other telescopes Modeling/simulation of interactions, processes Processing uses Interactive Data Language = IDL IDL is programming environment Educational/student licenses LOVEDATA runs on Linux/MacOS Running at Cornell, Arecibo, Lafayette, Colgate, Wesleyan, Union, Indiana, Humboldt State Astronomy IDL library 29

30 U n d e r g r a d s 30

31 ALFALFA-related activities Participating in observations at Arecibo! Also, remote observing elsewhere Development of IDL utilities Griddeddata in regions of ALFALFA completeness Catalog of HI detections in field HI detection of SDSS spectroscopic objects SDSS identification of ALFALFA detections Which SDSS galaxies does ALFALFA detect? Which SDSS galaxies aren t detected in HI? Do all ALFALFA detections have optical id s? Are the HI disks of the galaxies normal? Structure of the Virgo Cluster Any surprises? We now have ALFALFA datasets! What do you want to do? Who/what/when/where/how? 31

32 ALFALFA observing team Tom Balonek+ Brian Walsh, Colgate 06 Noah Brosch, Wise Obs Shea Brown, U. Minnesota grad student Barbara Catinella, NAIC Riccardo Giovanelli, Cornell Martha Haynes, Cornell Lyle Hoffman + Adeel Altaf, Lafayette 06, Josh Goldstein 07 Brian Kent, Cornell grad student Becky Koopmann + Bilal Mahmood, Union 08 Dave Kornreich + Amy Furniss, Arik Mitschang, Humbolt 06 Ann Martin, Cornell grad student Emmanuel Momjian, NAIC Prasanth Nair, Indiana grad student Jessica Rosenberg, Harvard-SAO/CfA Amélie Saintonge, Cornell grad student Sabrina Stierwalt, Cornell grad student Undergrads Grads Individuals wanting to participate can contact me (Martha) to arrange a training session at Arecibo. 32

33 IDL Level I Processing Quick identification of interesting objects 33

Zw1400+0949 One of the richest poor clusters Medium distant cz ~ 6000 km/s 48 detections in 2 x 2 field covering 4000 to 8200 km/s Many lsb/blue

34 Zw One of the richest poor clusters Medium distant cz ~ 6000 km/s 48 detections in 2 x 2 field covering 4000 to 8200 km/s Many lsb/blue gas-rich spirals visible in SDSS but not targeted for spectroscopy Complements SDSS and 2MASS Brian Walsh Colgate Senior Research Project Adviser: Tom Balonek 34

Brian participated in remote observations at Cornell and live ones at Arecibo Reduced data to Level I Ran 2-D signal extractor Cross-referenced with

35 Brian participated in remote observations at Cornell and live ones at Arecibo Reduced data to Level I Ran 2-D signal extractor Cross-referenced with SDSS Examined 3-D grid 48 sources in single 2 x2 grid covering 4000 km/s Zw Brian Walsh Colgate Senior Research Project Adviser: Tom Balonek 35

36 ALFALFA Science Goals Detemination of the HI Mass Function, especially at the lowest masses Extent of HI disks: the HI Diameter Function Blind HI Survey for tidal remnants Environmental variations of the HI properties of galaxies and the HIMF Determine the population of gas-rich systems in the Local Group and the periphery of the MW (HVCs) HI absorbers and the link to Lyman α absorbers OH Megamasers at intermediate redshift 0.16 < z <

37 ALFALFA We have a lot of really neat data! Observations cover the Leo to Virgo area, perpendicular to the supergalactic plane. Leo Group at 10 Mpc, RA ~10 hr, Dec +8 to +16 Virgo Cluster at 16 Mpc, RA ~12h, Dec +12 Fall sky covers M33, ridge of Pisces-Perseus supercluster Many other interesting groups, interacting galaxies, starbursting dwarf galaxies, very high HI mass galaxies, very nearby low mass galaxies, etc. Surprises?! The easy stuff has already been done By us, when we were students But it wasn t easy when we did it! If it were easy, it wouldn t be nearly as much fun! 37

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39 ALFALFA is a team effort! 39

ALFALFA: The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey: Martha Haynes (Cornell)

ALFALFA: The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey: Martha Haynes (Cornell) 1. Determination of the faint end of the HI Mass Function and the abundance of low mass gas rich halos 2. Environmental variation in