The e-MERGE Survey (e-MERLIN Galaxy Evolution Survey): overview and survey description
Journal article, 2020
We present an overview and description of the e-MERGE Survey (e-MERLIN Galaxy Evolution Survey) Data Release 1 (DR1), a large program of high-resolution 1.5-GHz radio observations of the GOODS-N field comprising similar to 140 h of observations with enhanced-Multi-Element Remotely Linked Interferometer Network (e-MERLIN) and similar to 40 h with the Very Large Array (VLA). We combine the long baselines of e-MERLIN (providing high angular resolution) with the relatively closely packed antennas of the VLA (providing excellent surface brightness sensitivity) to produce a deep 1.5-GHz radio survey with the sensitivity (similar to 1.5 mu Jy beam(-1)), angular resolution (0.2-0.7 arcsec) and field-of-view (similar to 15x15 arcmin(2)) to detect and spatially resolve star-forming galaxies and active galactic nucleus (AGN) at z greater than or similar to 1.
The goal of e-MERGE is to provide new constraints on the deep, sub-arcsecond radio sky which will be surveyed by SKA1-mid. In this initial publication, we discuss our data analysis techniques, including steps taken to model in-beam source variability over an similar to 20-yr baseline and the development of newpoint spread function/primary beam models to seamlessly merge e-MERLIN and VLA data in the uv plane. We present early science results, including measurements of the luminosities and/or linear sizes of similar to 500 galaxies selected at 1.5 GHz. In combination with deep Hubble Space Telescope observations, we measure a mean radio-to-optical size ratio of r(e-MERGE)/r(HST) similar to 1.02 +/- 0.03, suggesting that in most high-redshift galaxies, the similar to GHz continuum emission traces the stellar light seen in optical imaging. This is the first in a series of papers that will explore the similar to kpc-scale radio properties of star-forming galaxies and AGN in the GOODS-N field observed by e-MERGE DR1.
The goal of e-MERGE is to provide new constraints on the deep, sub-arcsecond radio sky which will be surveyed by SKA1-mid. In this initial publication, we discuss our data analysis techniques, including steps taken to model in-beam source variability over an similar to 20-yr baseline and the development of newpoint spread function/primary beam models to seamlessly merge e-MERLIN and VLA data in the uv plane. We present early science results, including measurements of the luminosities and/or linear sizes of similar to 500 galaxies selected at 1.5 GHz. In combination with deep Hubble Space Telescope observations, we measure a mean radio-to-optical size ratio of r(e-MERGE)/r(HST) similar to 1.02 +/- 0.03, suggesting that in most high-redshift galaxies, the similar to GHz continuum emission traces the stellar light seen in optical imaging. This is the first in a series of papers that will explore the similar to kpc-scale radio properties of star-forming galaxies and AGN in the GOODS-N field observed by e-MERGE DR1.
radio continuum: galaxies
Galaxies: high-redshift
Galaxies: evolution
Author
T. W. B. Muxlow
University of Manchester
A. P. Thomson
University of Southampton
University of Manchester
J. F. Radcliffe
University of Pretoria
University of Manchester
N. H. Wrigley
University of Manchester
R. J. Beswick
University of Manchester
Ian Smail
Durham University
I. M. McHardy
University of Southampton
S. T. Garrington
University of Manchester
R. J. Ivison
University of Edinburgh
European Southern Observatory Santiago
M. J. Jarvis
University of Oxford
University of the Western Cape
I. Prandoni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
M. Bondi
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
D. Guidetti
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
M. K. Argo
University of Central Lancashire
David Bacon
University of Portsmouth
P. N. Best
University of Edinburgh
A. D. Biggs
European Southern Observatory Santiago
S. C. Chapman
Dalhousie University
K. Coppin
University of Hertfordshire
H. Chen
University of Manchester
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Chinese Academy of Sciences
T. K. Garratt
University of Hertfordshire
M. A. Garrett
Leiden University
University of Manchester
E. Ibar
University of Valparaíso
Jean-Paul Kneib
Aix Marseille University
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
L. V. E. Koopmans
University of Groningen
L. K. Morabito
Durham University
E. J. Murphy
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
A. Njeri
University of Manchester
Chris Pearson
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
M. A. Perez-Torres
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
A. M. S. Richards
University of Manchester
H. J. A. Rottgering
Leiden University
M. T. Sargent
University of Sussex
Stephen Serjeant
Open University
C. Simpson
Gemini Observatory North
J. M. Simpson
Academia Sinica
A. M. Swinbank
Durham University
Eskil Varenius
University of Manchester
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
T. Venturi
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)
Vol. 495 1 1188-1208Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
Other Physics Topics
DOI
10.1093/mnras/staa1279