Search for dark galaxies through the ages

The work I have performed for this thesis covers a number of different areas of astronomy. My work on the LSBs is an in-depth exploration of the gas morphology and kinematics of these unusual objects. The focus is on the star forming abilities of the galaxy sample, but the HI observations also reveal a rich variety of gas morphology and motion, which are not necessarily apparent at other wavelengths. As well as being LSB, they are neutral gas-rich objects. As such they are more suited to being detected by HI surveys than by optical surveys. The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES) is a survey that expects to detect a large number of this type of galaxy and a large proportion of the thesis has been dedicated to my involvement with the survey. This has included designing and implementing the observing strategy, testing the data reduction pipeline, producing the final data, testing their quality and examining the efficiency of the survey detection methods. I have demonstrated some uses the AGES data can be put to from discovering hitherto undetected galaxies, through measuring the cosmic distribution of neutral hydrogen, to evaluating the cosmic significance of dark galaxies. The last point forms the central theme throughout the thesis. Of the 69 detections made by AGES in the first two datacubes, 55 do not have previous Hi measurements and 26 are previously uncatalogued. An Hi mass function (HIMF) was produced from the first galaxies detected by AGES. The best fit line to the data was a Schechter function with the parameters: a = -1.28 0.17, = 0.0076 0.0027 and M* = 7.7 1.8 x 109 M0. Using the HIMF the calculated value for the space density of neutral hydrogen was found to be pni = 7.5q3 x 107MQ Mpc-3, which is consistent with previous measurements. The overall contribution of HI to the Universal energy density was calculated from this value and found to be Qhi = 4.1 J x 10-4, confirming previous measurements of this value. Assuming the two candidates are indeed optically dark, based on this value the contribution of dark galaxies was calculated to be 4% to their respective mass bins, and less than 0.5% overall. The number density was found to be ndark 6.6 x 10-4 Mpc-3. Hence it would appear that dark galaxies are not numerous enough nor of substantial mass to be able to account for the 'missing mass' or to be able to fully represent the high number of dark matter haloes produced by CDM simulations.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Search for dark galaxies through the ages

The work I have performed for this thesis covers a number of different areas of astronomy. My work on the LSBs is an in-depth exploration of the gas morphology and kinematics of these unusual objects. The focus is on the star forming abilities of the galaxy sample, but the HI observations also reveal a rich variety of gas morphology and motion, which are not necessarily apparent at other wavelengths. As well as being LSB, they are neutral gas-rich objects. As such they are more suited to being detected by HI surveys than by optical surveys. The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES) is a survey that expects to detect a large number of this type of galaxy and a large proportion of the thesis has been dedicated to my involvement with the survey. This has included designing and implementing the observing strategy, testing the data reduction pipeline, producing the final data, testing their quality and examining the efficiency of the survey detection methods. I have demonstrated some uses the AGES data can be put to from discovering hitherto undetected galaxies, through measuring the cosmic distribution of neutral hydrogen, to evaluating the cosmic significance of dark galaxies. The last point forms the central theme throughout the thesis. Of the 69 detections made by AGES in the first two datacubes, 55 do not have previous Hi measurements and 26 are previously uncatalogued. An Hi mass function (HIMF) was produced from the first galaxies detected by AGES. The best fit line to the data was a Schechter function with the parameters: a = -1.28 0.17, = 0.0076 0.0027 and M* = 7.7 1.8 x 109 M0. Using the HIMF the calculated value for the space density of neutral hydrogen was found to be pni = 7.5q3 x 107MQ Mpc-3, which is consistent with previous measurements. The overall contribution of HI to the Universal energy density was calculated from this value and found to be Qhi = 4.1 J x 10-4, confirming previous measurements of this value. Assuming the two candidates are indeed optically dark, based on this value the contribution of dark galaxies was calculated to be 4% to their respective mass bins, and less than 0.5% overall. The number density was found to be ndark 6.6 x 10-4 Mpc-3. Hence it would appear that dark galaxies are not numerous enough nor of substantial mass to be able to account for the 'missing mass' or to be able to fully represent the high number of dark matter haloes produced by CDM simulations

Searching for dark galaxies: the AGES VC2 region

The VC2 strip (part of the AGES blind HI survey) spans 5x1 degrees of the Virgo Cluster, from the outskirts of the cluster to its interior. The strip covers part of subcluster A while avoiding the strong continuum source M87. 40 hours of observations were taken in January-February 2007 using the ALFA instrument on the Arecibo telescope, reaching a noise level as low as 0.5 mJy. For a 200 km/s velocity width, this gives a sensitivity limit of 6*10(6) Msolar at the Virgo distance (16 Mpc). Currently, 36 definite sources have been found, both by eye and with the automatic extractor Polyfind, with an additional 12 requiring follow-up observations, found only by one method

The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey - XIII. Dust in early-type galaxies

Aims. We study the dust content of a large optical input sample of 910 early-type galaxies (ETG) in the Virgo cluster, extending also to the dwarf ETG, and examine the results in relation with those on the other cold ISM components. Methods. We searched for far-infrared emission in all galaxies of the input sample using the 250 micron image of the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS). This image covers a large fraction of the cluster. For the detected ETG we measured fluxes in 5 bands from 100 to 500 micron, and estimated the dust mass and temperature with modified black-body fits. Results. Dust is detected above the completeness limit of 25.4 mJy at 250 micron in 46 ETG, 43 of which are in the optically complete part of the input sample. In addition dust is present at fainter levels in another 6 ETG. We detect dust in the 4 ETG with synchrotron emission, including M 87. Dust appears to be much more concentrated than stars and more luminous ETG have higher dust temperatures. Dust detection rates down to the 25.4 mJy limit are 17% for ellipticals, about 40% for lenticulars (S0 + S0a) and around 3% for dwarf ETG. Dust mass does not correlate clearly with stellar mass and is often much more than that expected for a passive galaxy in a closed-box model. The dust-to-stars mass ratio anticorrelates with galaxy luminosity, and for some dwarf ETG reaches values as high as for dusty late-type galaxies. In the Virgo cluster slow rotators appear more likely to contain dust than fast ones. Comparing the dust results with those on HI from ALFALFA, there are only 8 ETG detected both in dust and in HI in the HeViCS area; 39 have dust but only an upper limit on HI, and 8 have HI but only an upper limit on dust. The locations of these galaxies in the cluster are different, with the dusty ETG concentrated in the densest regions, while the HI rich ETG are at the periphery.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics; modified to reflect the on-line forthcoming version on the A&A web sit

AGES observations of Abell1367 and its outskirts

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES, Auld et al. 2006) will map ~200 square degrees over the next years using the ALFA feed array at the 305-m Arecibo Telescope. AGES is specifically designed to investigate various galactic environments from local voids to interacting groups and cluster of galaxies. AGES will map 20 square degrees in the Coma-Abell1367 supercluster including the Abell cluster 1367 and its outskirts (up to ~2 virial radii). In Spring 2006 we nearly completed the observations of 5 square degrees in the range 11:34< RA< 11:54, 19:20<Dec<20:20 covering all the cluster core and part of its infalling region reaching a 5 sigma detection limit of M(HI)~4×10(8)Mxs2299 (assuming a velocity width ~200 km~s(−1)) at the distance of Abell1367 (~92 Mpc). An HI selected sample has been extracted from the datacube obtaining a catalogue of fluxes, recessional velocities, positions and velocity widths. We present a preliminary analysis of the properties of the HI sources and report the discovery of HI diffuse features within interacting groups at the periphery of Abell1367

AGES observations of Abell 1367

We present 21 cm observations of 5×1 square degrees centered on the local Abell cluster 1367 obtained as part of the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey. This represents the first HI selected sample covering the core and the outskirts of a local cluster of galaxies. Combining the HI data with SDSS optical imaging we show that in HI selected samples follow scaling relations similar to the ones usually observed in optically selected samples. The most striking difference between HI and optically selected samples resides in their large scale distribution: while optical and X-ray observations trace the cluster potential very well, at radio wavelengths there is almost no evidence of the cluster presence

Herschel-ATLAS: Evolution of the 250 μm luminosity function out to z = 0.5

We have determined the luminosity function of 250 μm-selected galaxies detected in the ~14 deg2 science demonstration region of the Herschel-ATLAS project out to a redshift of z = 0.5. Our findings very clearly show that the luminosity function evolves steadily out to this redshift. By selecting a sub-group of sources within a fixed luminosity interval where incompleteness effects are minimal, we have measured a smooth increase in the comoving 250 μm luminosity density out to z = 0.2 where it is 3.6-0.9+1.4 times higher than the local value.S.D. Acknowledges the UK STFC for support

Herschel-ATLAS: The angular correlation function of submillimetre galaxies at high and low redshift

We present measurements of the angular correlation function of galaxies selected from the first field of the H-ATLAS survey. Careful removal of the background from galactic cirrus is essential, and currently dominates the uncertainty in our measurements. For our 250 μm-selected sample we detect no significant clustering, consistent with the expectation that the 250 μm-selected sources are mostly normal galaxies at z <∼ 1. For our 350 μm and 500 μm-selected samples we detect relatively strong clustering with correlation amplitudes A of 0.2 and 1.2 at 1’, but with relatively large uncertainties. For samples which preferentially select high redshift galaxies at z ∼ 2−3 we detect significant strong clustering, leading to an estimate of r0 ∼ 7−11 h−1 Mpc. The slope of our clustering measurements is very steep, δ ∼ 2. The measurements are consistent with the idea that sub-mm sources consist of a low redshift population of normal galaxies and a high redshift population of highly clustered star-bursting galaxie

Herschel -ATLAS: Extragalactic number counts from 250 to 500 microns

Aims. The Herschel-ATLAS survey (H-ATLAS) will be the largest area survey to be undertaken by the Herschel Space Observatory. It will cover 550 sq. deg. of extragalactic sky at wavelengths of 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 μm when completed, reaching flux limits (5σ) from 32 to 145 mJy. We here present galaxy number counts obtained for SPIRE observations of the first ~14 sq. deg. observed at 250, 350 and 500 μm. Methods. Number counts are a fundamental tool in constraining models of galaxy evolution. We use source catalogs extracted from the H-ATLAS maps as the basis for such an analysis. Correction factors for completeness and flux boosting are derived by applying our extraction method to model catalogs and then applied to the raw observational counts. Results. We find a steep rise in the number counts at flux levels of 100–200 mJy in all three SPIRE bands, consistent with results from BLAST. The counts are compared to a range of galaxy evolution models. None of the current models is an ideal fit to the data but all ascribe the steep rise to a population of luminous, rapidly evolving dusty galaxies at moderate to high redshift