Elise Hampton

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: instrument specification and target selection

The SAMI Galaxy Survey will observe 3400 galaxies with the Sydney-AAO Multi- object Integral-field spectrograph (SAMI) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) in a 3-year survey which began in 2013. We present the throughput of the SAMI system, the science basis and specifications for the target selection, the survey observation plan and the combined properties of the selected galaxies. The survey includes four volume-limited galaxy samples based on cuts in a proxy for stellar mass, along with low-stellar-mass dwarf galaxies all selected from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The GAMA regions were selected because of the vast array of ancillary data available, including ultraviolet through to radio bands. These fields are on the celestial equator at 9, 12, and 14.5 hours, and cover a total of 144 square degrees (in GAMA-I). Higher density environments are also included with the addition of eight clusters. The clusters have spectroscopy from 2dFGRS and SDSS and photometry in regions covered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and/or VLT Survey Telescope/ATLAS. The aim is to cover a broad range in stellar mass and environment, and therefore the primary survey targets cover redshifts 0.004 < z < 0.095, magnitudes rpet < 19.4, stellar masses 107– 1012M⊙, and environments from isolated field galaxies through groups to clusters of _ 1015M⊙.

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Early Data Release

We present the Early Data Release of the Sydney–AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey. The SAMI Galaxy Survey is an ongoing integral field spectroscopic survey of _3400 low-redshift (z < 0:12) galaxies, covering galaxies in the field and in groups within the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey regions, and a sample of galaxies in clusters. In the Early Data Release, we publicly release the fully calibrated datacubes for a representative selection of 107 galaxies drawn from the GAMA regions, along with information about these galaxies from the GAMA catalogues. All datacubes for the Early Data Release galaxies can be downloaded individually or as a set from the SAMI Galaxy Survey website. In this paper we also assess the quality of the pipeline used to reduce the SAMI data, giving metrics that quantify its performance at all stages in processing the raw data into calibrated datacubes. The pipeline gives excellent results throughout, with typical sky subtraction residuals in the continuum of 0.9–1.2 per cent, a relative flux calibration uncertainty of 4.1 per cent (systematic) plus 4.3 per cent (statistical), and atmospheric dispersion removed with an accuracy of 0:0009, less than a fifth of a spaxel.

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: cubism and covariance, putting round pegs into square holes

We present a methodology for the regularization and combination of sparse sampled and irregularly gridded observations from fibre-optic multiobject integral field spectroscopy. The approach minimizes interpolation and retains image resolution on combining subpixel dithered data. We discuss the methodology in the context of the Sydney–AAO multiobject integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey underway at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The SAMI instrument uses 13 fibre bundles to perform high-multiplex integral field spectroscopy across a 1° diameter field of view. The SAMI Galaxy Survey is targeting ∼3000 galaxies drawn from the full range of galaxy environments. We demonstrate the subcritical sampling of the seeing and incomplete fill factor for the integral field bundles results in only a 10 per cent degradation in the final image resolution recovered. We also implement a new methodology for tracking covariance between elements of the resulting data cubes which retains 90 per cent of the covariance information while incurring only a modest increase in the survey data volume.

Probing the physics of narrow-line regions of Seyfert galaxies - I. The case of NGC 5427

Context. The spectra of the extended narrow-line regions (ENLRs) of Seyfert 2 galaxies probe the physics of the central active galaxy nucleus (AGN), since they encode the energy distribution of the ionising photons, the radiative flux and radiation pressure, nuclear chemical abundances and the mechanical energy input of the (unseen) central AGN. Aims. We aim to constrain the chemical abundance in the interstellar medium of the ENLR by measuring the abundance gradient in the circum-nuclear H ii regions to determine the nuclear chemical abundances, and to use these to in turn determine the EUV spectral energy distribution for comparison with theoretical models. Methods. We have used the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the ANU 2.3 m telescope at Siding Spring to observe the nearby, nearly face-on, Seyfert 2 galaxy, NGC 5427. We have obtained integral field spectroscopy of both the nuclear regions and the H ii regions in the spiral arms. The observed spectra have been modelled using the MAPPINGS IV photoionisation code, both to derive the chemical abundances in the H ii regions and the Seyfert nucleus, and to constrain the EUV spectral energy distribution of the AGN illuminating the ENLR. Results. We find a very high nuclear abundance, 3.0 times solar, with clear evidence of a nuclear enhancement of N and He, possibly caused by massive star formation in the extended (∼100 pc) central disk structure. The circum-nuclear narrow-line region spectrum is fit by a radiation pressure dominated photoionisation model model with an input EUV spectrum from a Black – .

LZIFU: an emission-line fitting toolkit for integral field spectroscopy data

We present lzifu (LaZy-IFU), an idl toolkit for fitting multiple emission lines simultaneously in integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data. lzifu is useful for the investigation of the dynamical, physical and chemical properties of gas in galaxies. lzifu has already been applied to many world-class IFS instruments and large IFS surveys, including the Wide Field Spectrograph, the new Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey, the Sydney-Australian-astronomical-observatory Multi-object Integral-field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey. Here we describe in detail the structure of the toolkit, and how the line fluxes and flux uncertainties are determined, including the possibility of having multiple distinct kinematic components. We quantify the performance of lzifu, demonstrating its accuracy and robustness. We also show examples of applying lzifu to CALIFA and SAMI data to construct emission line and kinematic maps, and investigate complex, skewed line profiles presented in IFS data. The code is made available to the astronomy community through github. lzifu will be further developed over time to other IFS instruments, and to provide even more accurate line and uncertainty estimates.

PROBING THE PHYSICS OF NARROW-LINE REGIONS IN ACTIVE GALAXIES. III. ACCRETION AND COCOON SHOCKS IN THE LINER NGC 1052

M.A.D. and L.K. acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council (ARC) through Discovery project DP130103925.

Probing the Physics of Narrow Line Regions in Active Galaxies. II. The Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7)

Here we describe the \emph{Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey} (S7) and present results on 64 galaxies drawn from the first data release. The S7 uses the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) mounted on the ANU 2.3m telescope located at the Siding Spring Observatory to deliver an integral field of

The role of radiation pressure in the narrow line regions of Seyfert host galaxies

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Dissecting galaxies: spatial and spectral separation of emission excited by star formation and AGN activity

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The SAMI Galaxy Survey : data release one with emission-line physics value-added products

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