MIGHTEE-HI: The H I emission project of the MeerKAT MIGHTEE survey^⋆

¹ Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 Munich, Germany
e-mail: natasha.maddox@gmail.com
² South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, 2 Fir Street, Observatory 7925, South Africa
³ The Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA), and University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
⁴ Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
⁵ Oxford Astrophysics, Denys Wilkinson Building, University of Oxford, Keble Rd, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535, South Africa
⁷ ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Oude Hoogeveesedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
⁸ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
⁹ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
¹⁰ South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa
¹¹ The Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA), and University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535, South Africa
¹² Department of Physics and Electronics, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Makhanda 6140, South Africa
¹³ INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁴ Department of Physics and Space Science, Royal Military College of Canada, PO Box 17000, Station Forces, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7K 7B4
¹⁵ School of Science, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
¹⁶ National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM 87801, USA

Received: 12 October 2020
Accepted: 10 November 2020

Abstract

We present the H I emission project within the MIGHTEE survey, currently being carried out with the newly commissioned MeerKAT radio telescope. This is one of the first deep, blind, medium-wide interferometric surveys for neutral hydrogen (H I) ever undertaken, extending our knowledge of H I emission to z = 0.6. The science goals of this medium-deep, medium-wide survey are extensive, including the evolution of the neutral gas content of galaxies over the past 5 billion years. Simulations predict nearly 3000 galaxies over 0 <  z <  0.4 will be detected directly in H I, with statistical detections extending to z = 0.6. The survey allows us to explore H I as a function of galaxy environment, with massive groups and galaxy clusters within the survey volume. Additionally, the area is large enough to contain as many as 50 local galaxies with H I mass < 10⁸ M_⊙, which allows us to study the low-mass galaxy population. The 20 deg² main survey area is centred on fields with exceptional multi-wavelength ancillary data, with photometry ranging from optical through far-infrared wavelengths, supplemented with multiple spectroscopic campaigns. We describe here the survey design and the key science goals. We also show first results from the Early Science observations, including kinematic modelling of individual sources, along with the redshift, H I, and stellar mass ranges of the sample to date.