Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): spectroscopic analysis

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dc.contributor.authorHopkins, A.M.
dc.contributor.authorDriver, S.P.
dc.contributor.authorBrough, S.
dc.contributor.authorJarvis, Matt
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-15T13:27:22Z
dc.date.available2018-02-15T13:27:22Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.description.abstractThe Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey is a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic survey, using the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to obtain spectra for up to _ 300 000 galaxies over 280 square degrees, to a limiting magnitude of rpet < 19.8mag. The target galaxies are distributed over 0 < z . 0.5 with a median redshift of z _ 0.2, although the redshift distribution includes a small number of systems, primarily quasars, at higher redshifts, up to and beyond z = 1. The redshift accuracy ranges from σv _ 50 kms−1 to σv _ 100 kms−1 depending on the signal-to-noise of the spectrum. Here we describe the GAMA spectroscopic reduction and analysis pipeline. We present the steps involved in taking the raw two-dimensional spectroscopic images through to flux-calibrated one-dimensional spectra. The resulting GAMA spectra cover an observed wavelength range of 3750 . λ . 8850 °A at a resolution of R _ 1300. The final flux calibration is typically accurate to 10 − 20%, although the reliability is worse at the extreme wavelength ends, and poorer in the blue than the red. We present details of the measurement of emission and absorption features in the GAMA spectra. These measurements are characterised through a variety of quality control analyses detailing the robustness and reliability of the measurements. We illustrate the quality of the measurements with a brief exploration of elementary emission line properties of the galaxies in the GAMA sample. We demonstrate the luminosity dependence of the Balmer decrement, consistent with previously published results, and explore further how Balmer decrement varies with galaxy mass and redshift. We also investigate the mass and redshift dependencies of the [NII]/Hα vs [OIII]/Hβ spectral diagnostic diagram, commonly used to discriminate between star forming and nuclear activity in galaxies.en_US
dc.description.accreditationWeb of Science
dc.identifier.citationHopkins, A.M. et al. (2013). Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): spectroscopic analysis. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 430(3): 2047 - 2066en_US
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt030
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/3497
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.privacy.showsubmitterFALSE
dc.publisherOxford University Pressen_US
dc.rightsThis is the pre-print version (From arXiv:1301.7127) of the article available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt030
dc.status.ispeerreviewedTRUE
dc.subjectGalaxiesen_US
dc.subjectEvolutionen_US
dc.subjectFormationen_US
dc.titleGalaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): spectroscopic analysisen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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