VST in the era of the large sky surveys

Contribution List

1. Welcome

M. Marconi

05/06/2018, 14:00

2. Introduction

P. Schipani

05/06/2018, 14:15

3. The ESO Survey Landscape

B. Leibundgut

05/06/2018, 14:30

Surveys have become an important observationsl mode of ESO telescopes. Several telescopes have been fully dedicated to surveys and large survey programmes have been carried out at others. I will provide an overview of the opportunities ESO facilities offers for surveys and survey support.

4. ESO Public Surveys: status and forward look

M. Arnaboldi

05/06/2018, 14:55

The ESO Public Surveys serve the science goals of the survey teams while increasing the legacy value of ESO programmes, thanks to their homogeneity and the breadth of their sky coverage in multiple bands. These projects address a variety of research areas: from the detection of planets via microlensing, to stars, the Milky Way and Local Group galaxies, to extragalactic astronomy, galaxy...

5. VST operations: the Paranal perspective

S. Mieske

05/06/2018, 15:20

I will give a summary of how VST is currently operated by Paranal Observatory, and which resources are assigned to this task. I will also briefly describe our ongoing efforts to further streamline VST operations, and list a few challenges that limit us in that context.

6. Guarding the performance and data quality of OmegaCAM/VST at ESO

D. Dobrzycka

05/06/2018, 15:45

"OmegaCAM on the VST telescope at the Paranal Observatory has been supported by the ESO Quality Control group since the beginning of operations in 2011. We will present the schema that monitors the performance of the instrument and controls the data quality throughout the years. It has been evolving with time, being constantly improved and adapted to new demands, but the main goals remain...

7. VST ATLAS - past, present and future highlights

T. Shanks

05/06/2018, 16:35

"VST ATLAS is a ugriz imaging survey of similar depth to SDSS and has now completed observations of 4700deg^2 of the Southern sky, making it the ""Southern Sloan"" - but with sub-arcsecond median seeing in all bands. With its well-matched sister VISTA Hemisphere Survey in J and K, it also covers the widest wavelength range from the ultraviolet to the infrared and into the mid-IR via WISE....

8. QSOs and gravitational lenses from UVAS/ATLAS

F. Barrientos

05/06/2018, 17:00

The u-band VST ATLAS Survey (UVAS) is the Chilean extension of the ATLAS survey. This correspond to a second observation in the u-band for the whole ATLAS survey area, effectively doubling the exposure time of the parent survey. One of the main goals of ATLAS/UVAS is the identification of a significant number of QSOs (surface density of ~100 per sq deg) to trace the BAO for cosmological...

9. Two cosmology experiments with the VST in the 2020s

A. Agnello

05/06/2018, 17:20

"I will describe two dedicated campaigns with the VST, which exploit its fast optics and high image quality, and will extend its survey capabilities in the spectroscopic and time-domain.
The first project consists in high-cadence monitoring of strongly lensed quasars, for time-delay cosmography. With the eCOSMOGRAIL collaboration, we are performing (almost) nightly-cadence campaigns on bright...

10. The Universe in Full Color : Multi-Wavelength Studies of the Cosmic Star Formation History

M. Vaccari

05/06/2018, 17:40

"""The Universe in Full Color : Multi-Wavelength Studies of the Cosmic Star Formation History""

The coming of age of multi-wavelength astrophysics over the past decade has allowed us to probe deep and wide into the distant universe at all wavelengths thanks to the combination of ground-based and space-based instrumentation. This giant leap in observational capabilities has provided much...

11. Tidal Tails in Galactic Globular Clusters

D. Nardiello

05/06/2018, 18:00

We will present the status of the VST GTO program “tidal Tails of Five Galactic Globular Clusters” and of the OMEGACAM GTO program “Photometry and Astrometry of the Galactic Globule Cluster Omega Centauri”.

12. Studying large scale structure with the Kilo-Degree Survey on the VST

K. Kujiken

06/06/2018, 09:00

The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) was designed to take maximal advantage of the wide-field image quality of the VST/OmegaCAM system. Its science focuses on weak gravitational lensing by galaxies, groups and large-scale structure. I will present recent results on how cosmological constraints can be derived from KiDS lensing measurements.

13. Rare treasures in the KiDS survey

C. Tortora

06/06/2018, 09:25

"The Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) is one of the ESO public surveys carried out with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), equipped with the one square degree field of view and high angular resolution (0.2''/pixel) OmegaCAM camera. KiDS is mainly designed for weak lensing studies, providing deep imaging in four optical bands (ugri), over a 1500 square degree of the sky with excellent seeing (e.g.
...

14. A KiDS view of the Fornax dSph

M. Dall'Ora

06/06/2018, 09:45

Large scale surveys are facing the problem of the photometric homogeneity along wide fields of view. In this proposed contribution, I will take advantage of the released KiDS photometry of the Fornax dSph, to perform an accurate comparison with the homogeneous and deep wide-field photometries released by De Boer et al. (2012) and by Stetson et al. (2018), based on conventional mosaicing of...

15. KiDSLens: Gotta catch'em all

C. Spiniello

06/06/2018, 10:05

"Strong gravitational lenses are valuable systems that can provide unique insights into a large number of open issue in cosmology and extragalactic astrophysics. For instance, strong galaxy-galaxy lensing is by far the most accurate mass-measurement technique available for the central regions of massive galaxies, providing a one-shot, purely gravity-dependent measurement of the mass enclosed...

16. Central velocity dispersions of the GAMA spectroscopic database and synergies with KiDS

G. D'Ago

06/06/2018, 10:25

KiDS is one of the VST ESO public survey and up to date it has been surveying 450 deg2 of the extragalactic sky.
The three equatorial regions of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey (G09, G12, and G15) overlap 180 deg2 surveyed by KiDS. The redshift distribution, for the >300k galaxies in the GAMA sample, ranges between z=0.003 and z=0.9,
with a median value of z=0.21 and a median...

17. Data validation beyond Big Data

E. A. Valentijn

06/06/2018, 11:15

"From KiDs to Euclid OU-Ext to Euclid data validation.
For the OmegaCAM@VST datahandling we have build and operated the distributed information system Astro-WISE. Astro-WISE was successfully used for the processing of KiDS data and particularly its built in extreme data-lineage facilitated the quality control and re-processing of the data with improved calibrations and improved...

18. SFR with Machine Learning for the KiDS galaxies

G. Longo

06/06/2018, 11:40

We present an innovative application of Machine learning methods to the derivation of Stellar Formation Rates for Galaxies in the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) Data release.

19. Strong gravitational lensing studies with Herschel and multi-wavelength follow-up observations: synergies with KiDS.

L. Marchetti

06/06/2018, 12:00

"Strong gravitational lensing is a powerful tool for modern cosmology. It is one of the few probes capable of directly mapping galactic dark matter distribution, providing independent cosmological parameter estimates while also enabling the study of individual galaxies which are otherwise too faint for detailed analysis. Lensing is therefore one of the most powerful tools to study very distant...

20. The KABS survey at the VST

N. Napolitano

06/06/2018, 12:20

"We present a new VST/OmegaCAM survey to observe 1000deg2 in 3 optical bands (gri), with strategy and depths that are in between the ESO public surveys KiDS and ATLAS. The survey has been designed to tackle science cases of primary importance for oncoming facilities as eROSITA and 4MOST. The survey will cover sky areas which have no other high quality optical imaging and that will remain...

21. Science from VPHAS+

J. Drew

06/06/2018, 14:00

The application of the Galactic Plane survey, VPHAS+, to uncovering the fainter (r>13) massive O and early B stars of the Milky Way disk will be described.

22. The Accretion Discs in Halpha with OmegaCAM (ADHOC) Survey

G. Beccari

06/06/2018, 14:25

We recently concluded the Accretion Discs in Halpha with OmegaCAM (ADHOC) survey aimed at studying the population of Pre Main Sequence (PMS) objects in a number of close-by star forming regions. As part of the survey, we imaged in r, i and H-alpha a region of 12 × 8 square degrees around the Orion Nebula Cluster. Thanks to the high-quality photometry obtained, we discovered three well...

23. Pulsating stars as stellar population tracers from OGLE, VISTA, VVV, Gaia and VST data

M. Marconi

06/06/2018, 14:45

"Thanks to their variability and characteristic oscillation properties, pulsating stars such as Cepheids and RR Lyrae are traditionally used not only as distance indicators but also as stellar population tracers.
From the comparison between the observed pulsation properties and their theoretical counterparts based on nonlinear convective pulsation models we are able to constrain the intrinsic...

24. STREGA (STRucture and Evolution of the Galaxy)

I. Musella

06/06/2018, 15:05

STREGA (STRucture and Evolution of the Galaxy) is an ongoing VLT Survey Telescope Guaranteed Time survey, aimed at investigating the mechanisms of formation and evolution of the Galactic Halo on an area of about 150 square degrees. The main programme searches for the signatures of interaction between selected stellar systems and the Galactic Halo. We present the results obtained for a number...

25. STEP@VST and YMCA@VST, a fresh look into Magellanic System stellar populations

V. Ripepi

06/06/2018, 15:25

The Magellanic Clouds (MCs) represent an ideal laboratory to study the three body interaction between a massive spiral, the Milky Way, a disk galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and a massive dwarf, the Small Magellanic Cloud.
In spite of several efforts in the recent years, an overall picture of the spatial distribution of the stellar populations in the Small Magallanic Cloud and of the...

26. OmegaWINGS wide-field survey of nearby galaxy clusters.

M. Gullieuszik

06/06/2018, 16:15

The Wide-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) is a wide-field multi-wavelength survey of X-ray selected clusters at z = 0.04–0.07.
OmegaWINGS is the wide-field extension of WINGS based on VST/OmegaCAM B- and V- observations. For each cluster, we covered a 1 sqdeg field to include the whole virial region and to extend out into the infall cluster region. A large spectroscopic follow-up...

27. The WINGS VST survey

M. D'Onofrio

06/06/2018, 16:35

I summarize the results achieved with the analysis of the data of the OmegaWINGS survey at VST in the u,B,V bands concerning in particular the global structure and the scaling relations of galaxy clusters. I will provide solid evidences in favor of: 1) the non-omology of the growth curve light profiles and 2) the existence of a color-magnitude relation for galaxy clusters.

28. The Shapley Supercluster Survey

P. Merluzzi

06/06/2018, 16:55

The multi-wavelength survey of the Shapley supercluster (z~0.05) covers a contiguous area of 260 square Mpc centred on the supercluster core including 11 clusters showing evidence of cluster-cluster interactions. Optical (ugri) and near-infrared (K) imaging acquired with VST and VISTA allow us to study the galaxy population down to m*+6 at the supercluster redshift. A dedicated spectroscopic...

29. Mapping the Shapley Supercluster with VST and AAOmega

C. Haines

06/06/2018, 17:15

We present the spectroscopic follow-up of the VST Shapley Supercluster Survey (ShaSS). Using the AAOmega fibre-fed spectrograph we have obtained redshifts for >4000 galaxies, selected from 21deg^2 of VST i-band imaging, resulting in a homogenous and highly complete sample of i<18.0 galaxies. The survey area contains eleven X-ray clusters at z=0.05 within the Shapley supercluster, and we use...

30. VST-GAME: Galaxy Assembly as a function of Mass and Environment with VST

A. Mercurio

06/06/2018, 17:35

VST-GAME is a VST survey in four bands (u', g', r', i') to perform a unique wide field coverage (20x20 Mpc^2 at z=0.4) of 12 massive galaxy clusters, at 0.2<z<0.6 (z median ~0.4), and reaching the limiting magnitude of M*+6, (i.e. 10^9M⊙ at z=0.4). The main goal is to determine the relative importance of different cluster assembly processes in driving the evolution of galaxies as a function of...

31. The Dawn of the Gravitational Wave Astronomy

E. Coccia

07/06/2018, 09:00

The last years marked the beginning of a new era of observations of the Universe. Gravitational waves were detected from binary black-hole mergers and from a binary neutron star merger by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors.
Many gravitational observations and discoveries are expected in the next years with the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, with strong impact on many astrophysical...

33. GRAWITA and VST: a fruitful partnership

E. Brocato

07/06/2018, 09:25

32. SUDARE: the supernova search with the VST/OMEGACAM

E. Cappellaro

07/06/2018, 09:50

SUDARE is a project intended to study the evolution of the supernova rate with cosmic time. A major component of the project is a supernova search conducted with the VST+Omegacam on two selected sky fields (COSMOS and CDFS). We present the result of this project, the lesson learned and the current lines of research.

34. First weak lensing results from the VOICE suvey

G. Covone

07/06/2018, 10:15

We will present recent weak lensing results from VOICE, a nearly 5 sq. degrre deep VST survey around the CDFS sky region. We will discuss the use of photometric redshift from machine learning, the dar mater map of the region, the detection of shear peaks and the first study of cluster lensing in this region.

35. Optically Variable AGNs in the 3 yr VST Survey of the COSMOS Field

D. De Cicco

07/06/2018, 10:35

Variability characterizes AGNs at all wavelengths, with timescales from minutes to years depending on the observing window.
Variability measurements can contribute in shedding light on the underlying emission mechanism, providing constraints on the size and structure of the emitting region.
The analysis of AGN variability at different wavelengths and the study of possible correlations among...

36. The INAF projects at optical and near infrared wavelengths

A. Fontana

07/06/2018, 11:25

37. The Cherenkov Telescope Array: key science projects and multi-wavelength synergies

S. Vercellone

07/06/2018, 11:50

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation gamma-ray observatory, open to the scientific community, to investigate the very high-energy emission from a large variety of celestial sources in the 20 GeV - 300 TeV energy range. The full array, distributed over two sites, one in the northern and one in the southern hemisphere, will provide whole-sky coverage and will improve...

38. VST: the first large survey telescope for optical polarimetry

S. Bagnulo

07/06/2018, 12:15

"Replacing the unused ADC by a polarizing filter would transform the VST into the first large polarimetric optical survey telescope, without affecting the current capabilities of the VST+OmegaCAM system.

Scientific cases include: mapping the Milky-Way and Magellanic clouds magnetic fields, surveys of quasar polarization, identification and variability of polarized brown dwarfs, polarimetric...

39. GBOT (Ground Based Optical Tracking) - astrometric monitoring of the Gaia satellite from the ground

M. Altmann

07/06/2018, 14:00

The GBOT (Ground Based Optical Tracking) campaign is part of the ground-breaking Gaia satellite mission and aids Gaia in achieving the ambitious goals in astrometric accuracy. Our group based at ARI and the Observatoire de Paris obtains and reduces astrometric data obtained by 2m class telescopes from several partner institutions on a daily basis, among them, ESO's VST telescope on Cerro...

40. The WFIRST Exoplanet Microlensing Survey

S. Calchi Novati

07/06/2018, 14:25

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a NASA space observatory designed to address key questions about the Universe and the population of extrasolar planets in our Galaxy. WFIRST is planned for launch in the mid-2020s. One of the main WFIRST science program is a statistical census of exoplanets with a microlensing survey, using about one quarter of the overall observing time....

41. Science with 4MOST

S. Feltzing

07/06/2018, 14:45

4MOST is a massively multiplex multi-object spectrograph to be placed on ESO's VISTA telescope. The 4MOST survey program includes both Galactic as well as Extragalactic surveys. With its 800 high resolution and 1600 low resolution fibres distributed over a 4 degree field of view it will survey the sky down to G of about 20. This will, e.g., complement Gaia RVS for Milky Way stars and provide...

42. Euclid: a space mission to study the origin of the accelerating Universe

M. Moresco

07/06/2018, 15:10

In this talk, I will present Euclid, an ESA medium class space mission selected within the Cosmic Vision framework. The primary aim of Euclid is to probe with unprecedented accuracy the properties of Dark Energy, the source of still-unknown energy at the origin of the accelerated expansion of our Universe. To reach this goal, Euclid will observe ~15000 square degrees of the extragalactic sky...

43. VEGAS: VST survey of Early-type Galaxies in the Southern hemisphere

E. Iodice

08/06/2018, 09:00

In the era of deep photometric surveys aimed at studying galaxy structures down to the faintest levels of surface brightness of mu_g~27-30 mag/arcsec^2, the VST survey of Early-type Galaxies in the Southern hemisphere (VEGAS, see http://www.na.astro.it/vegas/VEGAS/Welcome.html) is producing competitive results. First results have confirmed the feasibility of VEGAS to reach the faint surface...

44. Study of galaxy stellar halos and faint structures with VEGAS@VST

M. Spavone

08/06/2018, 09:25

Deep and large-scale multi-band imaging is crucial to study the galaxy outskirts, out to hundreds of kiloparsecs, where the imprints of the mass assembly reside: these are the regions of the stellar halos.
The stellar halos are extended and diffuse component with an optical surface brightness below 26-27 mag/arcsec2, in the g band. They can be made of multiple stellar components, can have...

45. A deep look at NGC1533 in the Dorado group of galaxies with VST

A. Cattapan

08/06/2018, 09:45

We present a deep (μg ≈ 30 mag arcsec−2) surface photometry of NGC 1533, a barred early-type galaxy with an outer ring, situated in the east side of the Dorado group. The data were obtained with OmegaCAM@VST during the VEGAS surveys.
Our surface photometry reveals the presence of an extended underlying disk in NGC 1533. Relevant asymmetries, arm-like structures and tails are detected in the...

47. Studying the co-evolution of early-type galaxies and their super-massive black holes through the eyes of VEGAS

P. Bonfini

08/06/2018, 10:05

Galaxy-galaxy interactions and mergers are spectacular phenomena which produce a variety of complex remnants.
These features manifest as e.g. ripples, shells, streams, tidal tails, and are commonly referred to as ""fine structures"".
Their prominence is a function of time, because the galaxy potential progressively relaxes after a merger: fine structures are destined to fade out in a few...

46. Globular Clusters (& other compact stellar systems) in FDS and VEGAS

M. Cantiello

08/06/2018, 10:25

Extragalactic, unresolved GCs are possibly the simplest class of astrophysical objects beyond stars. As such, they are an important tool for understanding the formation and evolution of the host galaxies. Within the VST surveys FDS and VEGAS the study of such compact stellar systems, both for single bright galaxies (VEGAS) and for the 'entire' GC population in the Fornax cluster of galaxies...

48. The Fornax Deep Survey: the evolution of dwarf galaxies

R. Peletier

08/06/2018, 11:15

It has long been known that the environment is a strong driver of galaxy evolution. Although this morphology-density relation is strong for massive galaxies, it is even stronger for dwarfs, because the lower gravitational potential of dwarf galaxies makes it easier for the cluster environment to affect them. For this reason dwarf galaxies are ideal to trace environmental processes in galaxy...

49. The spatial distribution of Globular Clusters in the core of the Fornax cluster

M. Paolillo

08/06/2018, 11:40

We will discuss the properties of the extended GC system in the core of the Fornax galaxy cluster, revealed by the FDS survey. The spatial distribution and the correspondence with other photometric and kinematical tracers points toward a rich population of intra-cluster GCs. The asymmetric density structure suggests that the galaxies in the core of the Fornax cluster experienced a...

51. Automated searches for low surface brightness galaxies in VST data

D. Prole

08/06/2018, 12:00

The availability of deep, wide area surveys in the optical and near-infrared regime have opened a window of opportunity for the study of the low surface brightness universe over many different scales. One of the key science goals for such research is the characterisation of low surface brightness galaxies, both in and outside of galaxy cluster environments. This includes explaining the...

50. The Fornax Deep Survey with VST: Surface Photometry of LTGs inside the virial radius of the Fornax cluster

M. A. Raj

08/06/2018, 12:20

Spiral galaxies and irregular galaxies, which fall under the 'Late Type Galaxies' (hereafter, LTGs) morphology classification have been researched in the past mostly concerning the evolution of structures (e.g. formation of spiral arms). These galaxies, rich in atomic and molecular gas content help us understand the kinematics and dynamics of star formation. Studying the effect of the...

52. Conclusions

08/06/2018, 12:40