Star formation and galaxy evolution of the Local Universe based on HIPASS Oiwei Ivy Wong Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Physics University of Melbourne December, 2007 Abstract This thesis investigates the star formation and galaxy evolution of the nearby Local Volume based on Neutral Hydrogen (HI) studies. A large portion of this thesis con- sists of work with the Northern extension of the HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS). HIPASS is an HI survey of the entire Southern sky up to a declination of +25.5 de- grees (including the Northern extension) using the Parkes 64-metre radio telescope. I have also produced a catalogue of the optical counterparts corresponding to the galaxies found in Northern HIPASS. From this optical catalogue, we also conclude that we did not find any isolated dark galaxies. The other half of my thesis consists of work with the SINGG and SUNGG projects. SINGG is the Survey for Ioniza- tion in Neutral Gas Galaxies and SUNGG is the Survey of Ultraviolet emission in Neutral Gas Galaxies. Both SINGG and SUNGG are selected from HIPASS and are star formation studies in the H-alpha and ultraviolet (UV), respectively. My work in the SINGG-SUNGG collaboration is mostly based on SUNGG. Using the results of SUNGG, I measured the local luminosity density and the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD) of the Local Universe. Using far-infrared (FIR) observations from IRAS, the FIR luminosity density was also calculated. Combining the FUV luminosity density and the FIR luminosity density, the bolometric SFRD of the Lo- cal Universe was estimated. This thesis also includes the discovery of one of the nearest drop-through ring galaxies, NGC 922, which is a factor of three closer than the infamous Cartwheel galaxy. i Declaration The declaration. This is to certify that: • This thesis entitled \Star formation and galaxy evolution of the Local Universe based on HIPASS" comprises only my original work, except where indicated in the preface. • Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. • The thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Oiwei Ivy Wong iii Preface While the work presented herein is essentially my own, there is some that is the result of collaborative work, or the result of the work of others. Any such data used are acknowledged in the text, and other specific details are listed here: • In Chapter 2, the galaxy finding program TopHat and the processing programs used to search and parameterised the HIPASS data are similar programs used in (Meyer et al. 2004) but modified to process the Northern HIPASS data by the author of this thesis. The Duchamp software used is written by Dr Matthew Whiting (Whiting 2006). Chapter 2 is a modified version of a published paper (Wong et al. 2006b) in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. All the actual work was done by the author of this thesis and the co-authors on the paper contributed by providing ideas and suggestions for the work. • This author also acknowledges the help with the Parkes narrow-band follow-up observations (used in Chapter 2) provided by N. Bate, A. Karick, E. MacDon- ald, M. J. Pierce, R. M. Price, N. Rughoonauth, S. Singh, D. Weldrake and M. Wolleben. • The MIRIAD software package (see Sault et al. 1995) was used extensively in the data reduction and analysis in Chapter 3 and 4. • Chapter 3 is a slightly modified version of a paper to be submitted (Wong et al. 2007a) for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. • Most of the concepts and algorithms used to process the SUNGG images in Chapter 5 and 6 have been derived from similar programs made by Dr Dan v vi Hanish and Dr David Thilker. They have been modified by the author of this thesis to process the SUNGG dataset. Chapters 5 and 6 are a modified version of a paper to be submitted (Wong et al. 2007b) for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. • Chapter 7 is a slightly modified version of a published paper (Wong et al. 2006a) in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The simulations discussed in the chapter and paper were done by Kenji Bekki but all the other work presented were done by me. The other co-authors and collaborators provided suggestions and ideas. • This work was not possible without the radio telescope facilities at Parkes and Narrabri, which are part of Australia Telescope, which is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. • The research has made extensive use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED, see http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA's Astrophysics Data System Abstract and Article Services (ADS, avail- able at http://adswww.harvard.edu/) has also been an invaluable online re- source. • The research makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Centre/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. • The author of this thesis also acknowledges the assistance received from the PORES scheme and the NASA GALEX Guest Investigator grant GALEXGI04- 0105-0009 and NASA LTSA grant NAG5-13083 to her supervisor, Dr Gerhardt Meurer. Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible if it weren't for the help and support I received from many people throughout my PhD candidature. First and foremost, I wish to thank Professor Rachel Webster for being a brilliant supervisor. I would not have made it as an astrophysicist (or astronomer) had it not been for all the indispensable help, support, advice and the wonderful opportunities which you've afforded me. Thank you for believing in my capabilities and thank you for being not just a supervisor but also an inspiring mentor, collaborator and friend. I am just so grateful for all these years. Thank you very much to Dr Gerhardt Meurer for being one of the most enthu- siastic and thorough supervisor-collaborators throughout my PhD (in addition to being an all-round nice guy). I am very grateful for your patience and good humour. I also had a wonderful time working with the SINGG{SUNGG project during my year long visit to Johns Hopkins University in 2005. Thank you very much. Your generosity at work and during off-peak hours in helping to drive me around is very much appreciated. Many thanks also goes to Dr Virginia Kilborn for all the discussions and brain- storm sessions. Thank you for your patience and encouragement through the years. It has certainly been a pleasure working with you for my PhD after having worked with you as a summer undergraduate student. Thank you also to my ATNF co-supervisors Professor Lister Staveley-Smith and later, Dr Baerbel Koribalski. Although occasional, your thoughts and support are much appreciated. Thank you very much Lister for occasionally acting as my chauf- feur for observing sessions as well as the dry sense of humour you generously-peppered throughout most conversations. Thanks also goes to Dr Dan Hanish for all your help with the SINGG dataset. vii viii I apologise and thank you at the same time for all those endless IDL-related image- processing and data analysis questions and initial bugs which you had the pleasure (or not) of receiving. I am very grateful for your patience and good humour. Thank you also to Dr David Thilker and the rest of the SINGG{SUNGG team who provided great suggestions and fixes for all my questions and conundrums. I also like to thank Dr Emma Ryan-Weber for being a wonderful collaborator whose advice is genuine, honest and encouraging. Your guidance, support and dedi- cation to your work is certainly an inspiration to me. Thank you very much also to Dr Martin Zwaan for your help with HIPASS and the long-distance help you afforded me via email. Thank you also Dr Martin Meyer for similar HIPASS help as well as driving me to IKEA in order to obtain my blanket and other necessary household items. Thank you Dr Meryl Waugh for being my `human-matcher' as well as for keeping my grammar in check. Thank you Dr Matt Whiting for helping out with some of bugs in Duchamp Version 0.9 as well as the occasional proof-reading. Thank you to Dr Marianne Doyle and Dr Mike Read for their help with acquiring the POSSII images used in Chapter 3. Thank you Dr Jamie Stevens and Tim Dyce for answering my technical questions, the free lunches, moral support and mostly being all-round good mates. Thank you also to Jhan Srbinovsky, Christine Chung and Matthias Vigelius for all the stimulating conversations during lunch. Last but certainly not least, many thanks goes to my parents for all the love, understanding and my upbringing as well as the opportunities to pursue the impos- sible. Thank you to my sisters for the last-minute proof-reading too. Last but not least, I'd like to thank my husband, Berin, for his moral support and willingness to chase my dreams with me. For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of stars make me dream. - Vincent van Gogh Contents 1 Overview 1 1.1 The Hi emission line and star formation .