Next Section: Introduction

The HI Luminosity Function from ``Blind'' Surveys

Stephen E. Schneider
UMass Astronomy Program
Amherst, MA 01003 USA
schneide@phast.umass.edu

Abstract:

Recent neutral hydrogen (HI) surveys are detecting enough sources to make initial predictions of the extragalactic HI luminosity function. These surveys provide useful pointers for the Parkes Multi-Beam Survey, highlighting various advantages and disadvantages of different observing and analysis procedures. The newest surveys are also large enough to permit some statistical tests of their completeness. The detection rates clearly fall short of what would be expected based on a simple propagation of errors, suggesting the need for further development of detection software. I suggest several procedures for determining the effective sensitivity of HI surveys. Applied to two recent Arecibo surveys, these suggest that the HI luminosity function may be much steeper than its optical counterpart, and that the Parkes surveys may detect a large number of low-mass sources.

Keywords: radio lines: galaxies -- galaxies: mass function

© Copyright Astronomical Society of Australia 1997