Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Arecibo Legacy Fast Alfa Survey: The Α.40 H I Source Catalog, Its Characteristics And Their Impact On The Derivation Of The H I Mass Function, Martha P. Haynes, Riccardo Giovanelli, Ann M. Martin, Kelley M. Hess, Amelie Saintonge, Elizabeth A. K. Adams, Gregory Hallenbeck, G. Lyle Hoffman, Shan Huang, Brian R. Kent, Rebecca A. Koopman, Emmanouil Papastergis, Sabrina Stierwalt, Thomas J. Balonek, David W. Craig, Sarah J.U. Higdon, David A. Kornreich, Jeffrey R. Miller, Aileen A. O'Donoghue, Ronald P. Olowin, Jessica L. Rosenberg, Kristine Spekkens, Parker Troischt, Eric M. Wilcots

Department of Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a current catalog of 21?cm H I line sources extracted from the Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFALFA) survey over ~2800?deg2 of sky: the ?.40 catalog. Covering 40% of the final survey area, the ?.40 catalog contains 15,855 sources in the regions 07h30m < R.A. < 16h30m, +04? < decl.z < 0.25. A detailed analysis is presented of the completeness, width-dependent sensitivity function and bias inherent of the ?.40 catalog. The impact of survey selection, distance errors, current volume coverage, and local large-scale structure on the derivation of the H I mass function is assessed. While ?.40 does not yet provide a completely representative sampling of cosmological volume, derivations of the H I mass function using future data releases from ALFALFA will further improve both statistical and systematic uncertainties.