IFU Surveys

In the past years I have been involved in observational surveys using integral spectroscopy data. Among these, GASP and Metal-THINGS are the most important ones.

GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena) is an ESO large program (P.I. is Dr. Bianca M. Poggianti, @ INAF, Padova observatory) that observed a sample of so-called jellyfish galaxies, that is galaxies with clear signs of gas stripping. Using the MUSE integral field unit at the VLT, it has shed light on the gas stripping mechanisms induced by ram pressure, as a function of the environment and of the galaxies properties.

The quality of the spectra is just amazing, and SINOPSIS has been used for the analysis of the spatially-resolved stellar populations properties.

The survey is now completed, and 114 galaxies have been observed: these include both ram pressure-affected objects and a control sample as well. The analysis has been carried on for the whole sample, and some UV, radio and sub-mm follow up have been already done, while some others are on their way. More than 50 papers have been published exploiting these data.

In white, the stellar disc of the massive jellyfish galaxy JW100, from the GASP survey. In red, the Halpha emission. Both are obtained processing MUSE data.

Metal-THINGS is an international collaboration led by Dr. Maritza Lara-Lopez, at Universidad Complutense in Madrid- Spain, and thought as a follow-up of the THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey) project, complementing the wealth of already existing data with integral field optical spectroscopy. An holistic analysis of multifrequency data that enables to study the gas, dust, and stellar content, will allow to draw a complete picture of how internal and external mechanisms can influence and affect galaxy evolution in nearby objects.

Started in 2018, this project is using the VIRUS-P instrument at the Mc Donald observatory (Texas, USA) to take spatially resolved optical spectra of the sample of nearby galaxies observed within the frame of the SINGS (Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey) and THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey) sample.