Drift mapping precursor experiment working group

The ALFALFA survey page

Back to the E-ALFA Coordinating Committee web page
Back to the E-ALFA Precursor Experiments web page
Back to the EALFA Working Groups web page
Back to the DriftGroup members
Back to the NAIC E-ALFA web page

The precursor program is completed and we are now working on the full survey ALFALFA! Look there!

Publications resulting from the precursor program

The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey: I. Science Goals, Survey Design and Strategy
Giovanelli, R., Haynes, M.P., Kent, B.R., Perillat, P., Saintonge, A., Brosch, N., Catinella, B., Hoffman, G.L., Stierwalt, S., Spekkens, K., Lerner, M., Masters, K.L., Momjian, E., Rosenberg, J., Springob, C.M. plus 25 others, 2005, Astron. J. 130, 2598.
ADS astro-ph/0508301 higher quality PDF preprint
The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey: II. Results of Precursor Observations
Giovanelli, R., Haynes, M.P., Kent, B.R., Perillat, P., Catinella, B., Hoffman, G.L., Momjian, E., Rosenberg, J., Saintonge, A., Spekkens, K., Brosch, N., Masters, K.L., Springob, C.M., Karachentsev, I.D., Karachentseva, V.E., Koopmann, R.A., Muller, E., van Driel, W. & van Zee, L., 2005, Astron. J. 130, 2613.
ADS astro-ph/0508300 higher quality PDF preprint
The complete dataset contained in this paper is available at http://egg.astro.cornell.edu/precursor/

Technical documents related to A1946 precursor run:

22Jan05 Summary of Jan 05 followup observations
30Dec04 2nd Memo by Carl Heiles on ALFA Cal Values and Beam Efficiencies.
21Dec04 Memo by Carl Heiles on ALFA beam properties.
09Dec04 Memo on issues related to Inter-scan Overheads for sequences of drifts with ALFA.
06Dec04 Memo explaining the Fixed Azimuth Drift Mapping mode for ALFA.
06Dec04 Tests of the ALFA rotation angle zero point and pointing accuracy.
06Dec04 Phil's independent analysis of ALFA spider scans
20Sep04 Memo on A1946 measurement of cals and system temperature of ALFA beams.
08Sep04 Comments/recommendations to NAIC ALFA commissioning team from the first block of A1946.
06Sep04 Summary of "Lessons learned" from the first block of A1946.
02Sep04 ALFA/CIMA observing cookbook
29Aug04 Master list of center beam/track declination designations for the entire ALFALFA survey.
28Aug04 Issues regarding ALFA rotation for off-meridian drift mapping schemes.
26Aug04 Astronomer friendly plots of ALFA beam configurations on the sky for sources at transit, from the A1946 precursor observations.
03Sep04 Some notes on the current ALFA FITS file (Neither complete nor final!)

First results from the A1946 precursor observations: We've got LOTS OF galaxies!

Drift map precursor proposal (A1946) documents:

Document	Download docs	Version date
Precursor proposal as submitted	PS PDF	16Feb2004
ALFALFA tiling proposal	PS PDF	in revision, but basic idea valid
Report of Jan 2004 WAPP tests (A1849)	PDF	20Jan2004

AO Project A1946 Planning Documents:

Our precursor program was allotted telescope time in Aug-Sep 2004 under program A1946. Since not all of that time was successful and many changes have been taking place, we hope to have more time in Jan-Feb 2005.

Document	Access/download docs	Version date
Memo on detection statistics	PDF	22Jul2004
Tentative task list	txt	21Jul2004
Tentative observing plan	txt	25Jul2004
A1946 wish-list for NAIC	txt	27Jul2004
Strawman data organization and bookkeeping memo	PDF	12Aug2004
Spacing of E-ALFA drifts	PDF	03Aug2004
FAA radar signal compression at 1330,150 MHz	Phil's page	03Aug2004
Data processing stream for drift surveys
Option A	PDF	11Aug2004
Option B	PDF	12Aug2004
Notes from the 05Aug2004 planning telecon	txt	06Aug2004

IDL Software Development:

The Cornell group has been working with Arecibo staff to develop IDL routines for the reduction of mapping data in anticipation of the August A1946 observing run. Routines are being tested on single pixel mapping data obtained in 2003 using the interim correlator under projects A1705 and A1763. The approach is based on Phil Perillat's extensive routines for mapping data using either the Interim Correlator (IC) or the WAPPs.

Phil's Correlator mapping IDL routines
Phil's WAS IDL routines
Erik's WAPRED IDL routines
The NAIC ALFA sample data page
Draft 0 outline of reduction cookbook

Useful links:

See the various memos posted on the ALFA memo site
In particular, Germán's document on feed rotation and further discussion on Phil's ALFA notes page
The current WAPP capabilities
The ALFA backend requirements matrix
Phil's description of cross scans and Stokes calibration
Carl Heiles' memo on ALFA beam parameters
Phil Perillat's pages of AO technical info
The 15Aug04 version of the "Representations of spectral coordinates in FITS" draft, by Greisen et al. (a work in progress). (Note: if this link is broken, look for an updated one towards the bottom of Eric Greisens's home page and email me about fixing this one. Gracias!)
The HI Parkes All Sky Survey: southern observations, calibration and robust imaging
Barnes et al. 2001, MNRAS 322, 486
Driftscan Surveys in the 21cm Line with the Arecibo and Nançay Telescopes
Briggs, F.H., Sorar, E., Kraan-Korteweg, R.C., & van Driel, W. 1997, PASA 14(1), 37

This page created and maintained by Martha Haynes.

Last modified: Sat Apr 8 11:42:22 EDT 2006