Investigating strong gravitational lensing with infrared space missions : AKARA, Spitzer and Herschel

This thesis addresses the use of strong gravitational lensing to facilitate deep midinfrared observations of star-forming galaxies and to study highly dust obscured sub-millimetre galaxies (SMG). 15 um extragalactic number counts were taken from ultra deep AKARI mapping of the gravitational lensing cluster Abell 2218, which is the deepest image taken by any facility at this wavelength. Via strong gravitational lensing these data probe beyond the AKARI blank field confusion limit. By de-magnifying the extracted source catalogue and performing careful photometric de-blending, using multi-wavelength positional priors, galaxy number counts down to ~0.01 mJy were achieved. These counts are ~3x deeper than previous results and resolve 70-100% of the cosmic infrared background at 15/.Lm,giving a new stronger lower limit of 2.0±0.3 nWm-2 Hz-1. These data are sampling the normal star forming population that dominates the peak epoch of star formation. Stacking analysis of the AKARI 15 um source positions at Herschel/SPIRE wavelengths, show that a deep 15 um galaxy population resolves around 40% of the 250 um cosmic infrared background, but is less representative of galaxy populations sampled at longer wavelengths, where the background is dominated by sub-mm galaxies. This thesis also focuses on strong galaxy-galaxy lensing events and the decoupling of the lens and source photometry in order to estimate redshifts and constrain physical characteristics. The first sample of bright sub-mm gravitational lenses, selected at SPIRE 500 um by the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey, are investigated with light profile and SED fitting, to derive physical characteristics. For two of the five lenses, it was possible to disentangle the lens and background galaxy components in highly photometrically blended Spitzer data, after observations by the Submillimeter Array revealed the lensed structure. The lensed background galaxies are highly dust obscured SMG with intrinsic infrared luminosities -2

Relative pointing offset analysis of calibration targets with repeated observations with Herschel-SPIRE Fourier-Transform Spectrometer

We present a method to derive the relative pointing offsets for SPIRE Fourier-Transform Spectrometer (FTS) solar system object (SSO) calibration targets, which were observed regularly throughout the Herschel mission. We construct ratios of the spectra for all observations of a given source with respect to a reference. The reference observation is selected iteratively to be the one with the highest observed continuum. Assuming that any pointing offset leads to an overall shift of the continuum level, then these ratios represent the relative flux loss due to mispointing. The mispointing effects are more pronounced for a smaller beam, so we consider only the FTS short wavelength array (SSW, 958-1546 GHz) to derive a pointing correction. We obtain the relative pointing offset by comparing the ratio to a grid of expected losses for a model source at different distances from the centre of the beam, under the assumption that the SSW FTS beam can be well approximated by a Gaussian. In order to avoid dependency on the point source flux conversion, which uses a particular observation of Uranus, we use extended source flux calibrated spectra to construct the ratios for the SSOs. In order to account for continuum variability, due to the changing distance from the Herschel telescope, the SSO ratios are normalised by the expected model ratios for the corresponding observing epoch. We confirm the accuracy of the derived pointing offset by comparing the results with a number of control observations, where the actual pointing of Herschel is known with good precision. Using the method we derived pointing offsets for repeated observations of Uranus (including observations centred on off-axis detectors), Neptune, Ceres and NGC7027. The results are used to validate and improve the point-source flux calibration of the FTS.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom

Herschel SPIRE FTS Relative Spectral Response Calibration

Herschel/SPIRE Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) observations contain emission from both the Herschel Telescope and the SPIRE Instrument itself, both of which are typically orders of magnitude greater than the emission from the astronomical source, and must be removed in order to recover the source spectrum. The effects of the Herschel Telescope and the SPIRE Instrument are removed during data reduction using relative spectral response calibration curves and emission models. We present the evolution of the methods used to derive the relative spectral response calibration curves for the SPIRE FTS. The relationship between the calibration curves and the ultimate sensitivity of calibrated SPIRE FTS data is discussed and the results from the derivation methods are compared. These comparisons show that the latest derivation methods result in calibration curves that impart a factor of between 2 and 100 less noise to the overall error budget, which results in calibrated spectra for individual observations whose noise is reduced by a factor of 2-3, with a gain in the overall spectral sensitivity of 23% and 21% for the two detector bands, respectively.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom

Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer: Calibration of its Bright-source Mode

The Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) of the Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) on board the ESA Herschel Space Observatory has two detector setting modes: (a) a nominal mode, which is optimized for observing moderately bright to faint astronomical targets, and (b) a bright-source mode recommended for sources significantly brighter than 500 Jy, within the SPIRE FTS bandwidth of 446.7-1544 GHz (or 194-671 microns in wavelength), which employs a reduced detector responsivity and out-of-phase analog signal amplifier/demodulator. We address in detail the calibration issues unique to the bright-source mode, describe the integration of the bright-mode data processing into the existing pipeline for the nominal mode, and show that the flux calibration accuracy of the bright-source mode is generally within 2% of that of the nominal mode, and that the bright-source mode is 3 to 4 times less sensitive than the nominal mode.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom

The Herschel/SPIRE Spectrometer Useful Scripts

In most cases, the Standard Product Generation (SPG) processing pipelines for the Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) produce well-calibrated spectra of high quality. However, some Astronomical sources, such as those with a faint continuum, require additional processing to achieve more meaningful spectra. In consultation with the astronomical community, a set of scripts were developed to assist in the post-pipeline analysis of the spectra

Herschel SPIRE FTS Spectral Mapping Calibration

The Herschel SPIRE Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) performs spectral imaging in the 447-1546 GHz band. It can observe in three spatial sampling modes: sparse mode, with a single pointing on sky, or intermediate or full modes with 1 and 1/2 beam spacing, respectively. In this paper, we investigate the uncertainty and repeatability for fully sampled FTS mapping observations. The repeatability is characterised using nine observations of the Orion Bar. Metrics are derived based on the ratio of the measured intensity in each observation compared to that in the combined spectral cube from all observations. The mean relative deviation is determined to be within 2%, and the pixel-by-pixel scatter is ~7%. The scatter increases towards the edges of the maps. The uncertainty in the frequency scale is also studied, and the spread in the line centre velocity across the maps is found to be ~15 km/s. Other causes of uncertainty are also discussed including the effect of pointing and the additive uncertainty in the continuum.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom

The Herschel/SPIRE Spectrometer Phase Correction Data Processing Tasks

Asymmetries in the recorded interferograms of Fourier Transform Spectrometers (FTS) can be caused by optical, electronic, and sampling effects. Left uncorrected, these asymmetries will result in a spectrum with both real and imaginary components and thus a non-zero phase. One or more phase correction steps are applied in FTS data processing pipelines to correct for these effects. In this paper we describe the causes of non-zero phase particular to the Herschel/SPIRE FTS and present the two phase correction processing steps employed. The evolution of the phase correction algorithms is also described