MeerKAT measures the “fuel reserves” of galaxies in the past
A global team of astronomers, including many based in South Africa, have measured the fuel for star formation in galaxies as they were 4 billion years ago. The researchers made use of the MeerKAT radio telescope to observe neutral hydrogen gas, which is the most abundant element in the universe, and the material from which stars are formed. Observation of distant galaxies was one of the prime design drivers for MeerKAT, which is built and run by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).
An example of an HI-rich spiral galaxy. The image is an RGB image built using data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam at Subaru Telescope (Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii), and represents the light emitted from stars in the galaxy. The white contour shows the extension of the HI emission (as revealed by MeerKAT), which goes well beyond the stars and consists in a diffuse cloud of gas. The project has studied how the amount of gas changes with the amount of stars and with age of the universe. Credit: Francesco Sinigaglia/MIGHTEE
The measuring work was led by PhD student Francesco Sinigaglia, under the supervision of Associate Professor Giulia Rodighiero, both at the University of Padova, in Italy, and South African astronomers Dr. Ed Elson at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Prof. Mattia Vaccari at the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA). The radio data come from MIGHTEE (MeerKAT International GHz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration), a MeerKAT large survey project. The collaboration between Italy and South Africa has been recently strengthened by bilateral projects such as RADIOSKY2020, co-funded by the Italian Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (MAECI) and the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), says Prof. Vaccari, who is coordinating South Africa’s participation in the RADIOSKY2020 project.
For the first time, the hydrogen gas measurement could be made for galaxies of different sizes and star formation activity, to see how the fuel content relates to other observable properties of galaxies 4 billion years in the past, to compare with what we see in galaxies in the present day.
The findings surprised the astronomers. They expected the amount of gas in galaxies to be larger 4 billion years ago than today, and that galaxies would consume their gas in the star formation process. The surprise is that the gas reservoirs of such distant galaxies are similar to that observed in galaxies closer to us. This shows that galaxies can replenish their reservoirs of fuel for star formation, by collecting gas from their surroundings. The work was possible due to the sensitivity of MeerKAT, the large number of galaxies observed, and the excellent additional data at optical wavelengths.
Lead author Francesco Sinigaglia says: “We were thrilled to exploit the potential of MeerKAT to improve our understanding of the cold gas in distant galaxies. We believe this study represents a strong step forward in the field, as it delivers new pieces of information on hydrogen in galaxies, never obtained before.”
The project involves researchers and students from five South African institutions in the MIGHTEE collaboration, an international project involving astronomers from around the world. “It is exciting to be a part of such a large, international project as part of PhD studies,” says Sambatriniaina Rajohnson, a PhD student at the University of Cape Town who took part in the project.
The observations from MeerKAT were processed at the ilifu cloud computing facility set up by the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy, a partnership between the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape, and the University of Pretoria.
“The data taught us a lot about the processing challenges involved, and was an important testbed for coordinating science projects. Francesco’s science result is the perfect validation for our processing strategy and teamwork, providing an exciting glimpse of the future of MIGHTEE,” says Dr. Bradley Frank, Associate Director for Astronomy Computing at IDIA, and the co-chair of MIGHTEE-HI.
Were it not for the world-leading MeerKAT radio telescope, ilifu, and especially the immense local talent, such research would not be possible. South Africa again demonstrates leadership in international science. “This is wonderful fundamental science, made possible by South Africa building the most powerful telescope of its kind in the world, thereby attracting international collaboration with South Africans at the very top level,” says Dr. Rob Adam, Managing Director of SARAO.
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For more information contact:
A/ Prof. Carolina Odman
Associate Director Development and Outreach
Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy
University of the Western Cape
codman@uwc.ac.za
carolina@idia.ac.za
+27 (0)21 959 3463
+27 (0)82 302 8167
