Betsey Adams (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON))

Betsey Adams Colloquium: Unveiling the low mass Universe with new HI surveys: Apertif and dwarf galaxies

Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

Apertif is a new phased-array feed for the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, greatly increasing its field of view and turning it into a natural survey instrument. The Apertif surveys, including a time-domain survey and imaging survey with a shallow and medium-deep tier, commenced on 1 July 2019. The time-domain survey is search for fast radio bursts (FRBs) and the imaging surveys provide radio continuum, polarization, and neutral hydrogen (HI) data. I will highlight available data products and first results from the surveys. I will end by highlighting one particular science case for Apertif, HI studies of dwarf galaxies. Dwarf galaxies can provide critical constraints of our cosmological model and the nature of dark matter, and HI is especially important as it provides kinematic information.