Galaxies 09: Assembly, Gas Content and Star Formation History of Galaxies

Tom Oosterloo
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy

All-sky radio surveys with the WSRT

I will describe Apertif, the upgrade to the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) with focal plane arrays. With Apertif, the survey speed of the WSRT will increase by a factor 30. All-sky spectroscopic surveys (HI and OH) as well as continuum/polarisation surveys will be performed with Apertif. Several hundred thousand galaxies will be detected and imaged in HI, out to z = 0.4. With these data, the evolution of gas content, and the role it plays in the evolution of galaxies, can be studied. I will describe the system and show the results from a prototype focal plane array mounted in the WSRT. I will also describe the surveys plans for Apertif.

Return to the Conference Program