The MeerKAT Fornax survey
View/ Open
Date
2016Author
Serra, P.
Loubser, S.I.
De Blok, W.J.G.
Bryan, G.L.
Colafrancesco, S.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
We present the science case and observations plan of the MeerKAT Fornax Survey, an H
I
and
radio continuum survey of the Fornax galaxy cluster to be carried out with the SKA precursor
MeerKAT. Fornax is the second most massive cluster within 20 Mpc and the largest nearby cluster
in the southern hemisphere. Its low X-ray luminosity makes it representative of the environment
where most galaxies live and where substantial galaxy evolution takes place. Fornax’s ongoing
growth makes it an excellent laboratory for studying the assembly of clusters, the physics of
gas accretion and stripping in galaxies falling in the cluster, and the connection between these
processes and the neutral medium in the cosmic web.
We will observe a region of
∼
12 deg
2
reaching a projected distance of
∼
1
.
5 Mpc from the
cluster centre. This will cover a wide range of environment density out to the outskirts of the
cluster, where gas-rich in-falling groups are found. We will: study the H
I
morphology of resolved
galaxies down to a column density of a few times 10
19
cm
−
2
at a resolution of
∼
1 kpc; measure
the slope of the H
I
mass function down to
M
(H
I
)
∼
5
×
10
5
M
; and attempt to detect H
I
in the
cosmic web reaching a column density of
∼
10
18
cm
−
2
at a resolution of
∼
10 kpc
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/30876https://doi.org/10.22323/1.277.0008
https://pos.sissa.it/277/008/pdf