For the last 25 years, the 21 cm line has been used productively to investigate the large–scale structure of the Universe, its peculiar velocity field and the measurement of cosmic parameters. In February 2005 a blind HI survey that will cover 7074 square degrees of the high latitude sky was started at Arecibo, using the 7-beam feed L-band feed array (ALFA). Known as the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) Survey, the program is producing a census of HI-bearing objects over a cosmologically significant volume of the local Universe. With respect to previous blind HI surveys, ALFALFA offers an improvement of about one order of magnitude in sensitivity, 4 times the angular resolution, 3 times the spectral resolution, and 1.6 times the total bandwidth of HIPASS. ALFALFA can detect 7×104D2M⊙ of HI, where D is the source distance in Mpc. As of mid 2007, 44% of the survey observations and 15% of the source extraction are completed. We discuss the status of the survey and present a few preliminary results, in particular with reference to the proposed “dark galaxy” VirgoHI21.

Various differences in galaxy cluster properties derived from X-ray and weak lensing observations have been highlighted in the literature. One such difference is the observation of mass concentrations in lensing maps which have no X-ray counterparts (e.g. Jee, White, Ford et al. 2005). We investigate this issue by identifying substructures in maps of projected total mass (analogous to weak lensing mass reconstructions) and maps of projected X-ray surface brightness for three simulated clusters. We then compare the 2D mass substructures with both 3D subhalo data and the 2D X-ray substructures. Here we present preliminary results from the first comparison, where we have assessed the impact of projecting the data on subhalo identification.

We examine the dark matter properties of nearby early-type galaxies using planetary nebulae (PNe) as mass probes. We have designed a specialised instrument, the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph (PN.S) operating at the William Herschel telescope, with the purpose of measuring PN velocities with best efficiency. The primary scientific objective of this custom-built instrument is the study of the PN kinematics in 12 ordinary round galaxies. Preliminary results showing a dearth of dark matter in ordinary galaxies (Romanowsky et al. 2003) are now confirmed by the first complete PN.S datasets. On the other hand early-type galaxies with a “regular” dark matter content are starting to be observed among the brighter PN.S target sample, thus confirming a correlation between the global dark-to-luminous mass virial ratio (fDM = MDMM*) and the galaxy luminosity and mass.

The cosmic ultraviolet background (UVB) heats the intergalactic medium (IGM), as a result the gas in dark matter halos below a certain mass is too hot to cool within a Hubble time. The UVB effectively suppresses the formation of dwarf galaxies. Using high resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulations we show that photo heating leads to small baryon fractions in halos below ~ 6× 109h−1M⊙, independent of the cosmic environment. The simulations are carried out assuming a homogeneous UVB with flux densities as given by Haardt, &, Madau (1996). A halo may stop to condense gas significantly after the universe is reionised, namely when its mass falls below the characteristic mass scale set by the photo heating. Assuming a spherical halo model we derive this characteristic mass analytically and identify the main mechanisms that prevent the gas from cooling in small halos. The theoretically derived characteristic mass is smaller than the one obtained from observations. Increasing the energy per ionising photon by a factor between four and eight would be sufficient to reconcile both. This is equivalent to an average temperature of the IGM of ~ 104K. In this sense the faint end of the luminosity function may serve as a calorimeter for the IGM.

The goal of this unprecedented large scale numerical project is to run state-of-the-art cosmological simulations of galaxy formation with two different numerical techniques: the particle based code GADGET-2 and the Eulerian AMR code RAMSES, starting from the same initial conditions. Both codes are fully parallel with MPI and can make efficient use of thousands of processors of the Marenostrum Supercomputer in Barcelona, where these two numerical experiments are being run.

We present 21 cm observations of 5×1 square degrees centered on the local Abell cluster 1367 obtained as part of the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey. This represents the first HI selected sample covering the core and the outskirts of a local cluster of galaxies. Combining the HI data with SDSS optical imaging we show that in HI selected samples follow scaling relations similar to the ones usually observed in optically selected samples. The most striking difference between HI and optically selected samples resides in their large scale distribution: while optical and X-ray observations trace the cluster potential very well, at radio wavelengths there is almost no evidence of the cluster presence.

Dwarf-galaxy sized dark matter halos may be detectable when a bright background source is gravitationally lensed on scales of milliarcseconds. Such effects can be caused by dark galaxies as well as luminous ones. Here we discuss conditions for detecting a luminous lensing object through direct imaging, via measurements of the point spread function (PSF) to subtract the quasar from the image, revealing the quasar host galaxy and any luminous lens. The technique applies to both types of millilensing effect, i.e. magnification and image splitting. We show that luminous dwarf-galaxy lenses should be detectable with this method up to redshifts z~0.2.

We consider the star formation properties of dwarf galaxies in the Cen A group observed within our HST/ACS projects number 9771 and 10235. We model color-magnitude diagrams of the galaxies under consideration and measure star formation rate and metallicity dependence on time. We study the environmental dependence of the galaxy evolution and probable origin of the dwarf galaxies in the group.

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey is a blind neutral hydrogen survey using the ALFA multibeam receiver at Arecibo Observatory to reach unprecedented sensitivities in a number of selected fields in the local Universe. When completed the survey will cover 200 square degrees out to a distance of at least 270 Mpc. If a population of gas-rich dark galaxies exists, then this survey is in a prime position to uncover that population.

So far 20 square degrees have been covered in the regions of Abell 1367, the Virgo Cluster, the NGC 7332/9 galaxy pair and the isolated galaxy NGC 1156. Over 200 sources have been found, including a number that have no obvious optical counterparts. We discuss here the potential of AGES for uncovering more such objects and the characteristics of the dark sources identified to date.

While the baryon fraction in galaxy groups and clusters may be expected to reflect the universal value, observations of cluster baryon fractions have generally fallen short of this expectation and indicated a possible correlation with cluster mass. We present a new determination of the total baryon budget in nearby galaxy groups and clusters that includes the contributions from stars in galaxies, intracluster stars, and the intracluster medium. We find that the baryon mass fraction within r500 is independent of system mass and lower than the WMAP value. We conclude however that the present shortfall provides no compelling evidence for additional missing baryons, since it may arise due to a theoretically predicted deficit of baryons within r500 and systematic uncertainties associated with the mass determinations. With the addition of the ICL to the stellar mass in galaxies, the increase in X-ray gas mass fraction with increasing total mass is entirely accounted for by a decrease in the total stellar mass fraction, supporting the argument that the behavior of both the stellar and X-ray gas components is dominated by a decrease in star formation efficiency in more massive environments. Within just the stellar component, the fraction of the total stellar luminosity in the central, giant brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and ICL (hereafter the BCG+ICL component) decreases as velocity dispersion (σ) increases, suggesting that ICL may grow less efficiently in higher mass environments. The identification of low mass groups with large BCG+ICL components also demonstrates that the massive cluster environment is not required to form intracluster stars. These proceedings are a condensed version of the work presented in Gonzalez, Zaritsky & Zabludoff (2007), and we refer the reader to that paper for a more complete discussion.

The Arecibo L-band Feed Array Zone of Avoidance Survey (ALFA ZOA) will map 1350-1800 deg2 at low Galactic latitude, providing HI spectra for galaxies in regions of the sky where our knowledge of local large scale structure remains incomplete, owing to obscuration from dust and high stellar confusion near the Galactic plane. Because of these effects, a substantial fraction of the galaxies detected in the survey will have no optical or infrared counterparts. However, near infrared follow up observations of ALFA ZOA sources found in regions of lowest obscuration could reveal whether some of these sources could be objects in which little or no star formation has taken place (“dark galaxies”). We present here the results of ALFA ZOA precursor observations on two patches of sky totaling 140 deg2 (near l = 40°, and l = 192°). We have measured HI parameters for detections from these observations, and cross-correlated with the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). A significant fraction of the objects have never been detected at any wavelength. For those galaxies that have been previously detected, a significant fraction have no previously known redshift, and no previous HI detection.

Deep optical/near-IR surface photometry of galaxies outside the Local Group have revealed faint and very red halos around objects as diverse as disk galaxies and starbursting dwarf galaxies. The colours of these structures are too extreme to be reconciled with stellar populations similar to those seen in the stellar halos of the Milky Way or M31, and alternative explanations like dust reddening, high metallicities or nebular emission are also disfavoured. A stellar population obeying an extremely bottom-heavy initial mass function (IMF), is on the other hand consistent with all available data. Because of its high mass-to-light ratio, such a population would effectively behave as baryonic dark matter and could account for some of the baryons still missing in the low-redshift Universe. Here, we give an overview of current red halo detections, alternative explanations for the origin of the red colours and ongoing searches for red halos around types of galaxies for which this phenomenon has not yet been reported. A number of potential tests of the bottom-heavy IMF hypothesis are also discussed.

I discuss some of the interesting discoveries gradually emerging from the HIPASS HI survey. Why were so very few dark clouds and dark galaxies identified? Could that be partly due to optical misidentifications? In some cases yes. Will Arecibo overcome some of the deficiencies of HIPASS? I argue not because large telescopes are ill suited to blind surveys. I discuss the problem of Inchoate Galaxies which can be neither young nor old, and the constancy of HI column density found amongst all sources turning up in blind HI surveys. Could some of these unexpected phenomena be the result of Spin Temperature Freezeout? If so there is a lot more HI out there than we imagined.

The location of two nearby galaxy groups within ~20 Mpc in the Leo region allows for a detailed study of low-mass galaxies. A catalog of HI line detections in Leo (9h36m < α < 11h36m, +8° < δ < +16°) has been made from the blind HI survey ALFALFA. More sensitive single-pixel Arecibo observations targeted Leo dwarf candidates noted optically by Karachentsev et al. 2004 (K04) to determine group members and allow for a comparison of HI and optically-selected samples. This presentation highlights the differences between the two samples and the significant contribution blind HI surveys can make to the missing satellites problem.

The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey is in the process of yielding a complete HI dataset of the Virgo Cluster and its environs (Giovanelli et al. 2007, Kent et al., in preparation). Assuming a distance to Virgo of 16.7 Mpc, the minimum detectable HI mass by ALFALFA is of order 2 × 107 M⊙. A number of the HI detections appear to have interesting properties. Some appear associated with, but offset from, low surface brightness optical counterparts; others, at larger spatial offsets, may be tidally related to optical counterparts. Yet another class includes detections which are not identifiable with any optical counterparts. We present the ALFALFA results on these objects in the Virgo region, as well as followup aperture synthesis observations obtained with the VLA.

HI observations of the Virgo Cluster pair NGC 4532/DDO 137, conducted as part of the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey, reveal an HI feature extending ~500kpc to the southwest. The structure has a total mass of up to 7 x 108M⊙, equivalent to 10% of the pair HI mass. Optical R imaging reveals no counterparts to a level of 26.5 mag arcsec−2. The structure is likely the result of galaxy harassment.

We can define Delayed Galaxies as a class of rare galaxies that maintained the bulk of their gas for most of the age of the universe following the initial formation of their disks, with little or no star formation. Invisible galaxies and Malin 1 type low-surface-brightness galaxies qualify as class members. Rare examples among interacting galaxies show that collisions can restart the stalled evolution of such galaxies, and suggest that other members of the Delayed class can be found among interacting systems with vigorous current star formation.

Searching for lopsided/interacting objects among 1500 isolated galaxies yields only eight strongly disturbed galaxies which may be explained as a result of their interaction with massive dark objects. We present results of spectral and photometric observations of these galaxies performed with the 6-m telescope that lead to significant restriction on cosmic abundance of dark galaxies.

I present results from an ongoing survey to study galaxies associated with damped Lyman-α (DLA) systems at redshifts z>2. Integral field spectroscopy is used to search for Lyα emission line objects at the wavelengths where the emission from the quasars have been absorbed by the DLAs. The DLA galaxy candidates detected in this survey are found at distances of 10–20 kpc from the quasar line of sight, implying that galaxies are surrounded by neutral hydrogen at large distances. If we assume that the distribution of neutral gas is exponential, the scale length of the neutral gas is ~6 kpc, similar to large disk galaxies in the local Universe. The emission line luminosities imply smaller star formation rates compared to other high redshift galaxies found in luminosity selected samples.

We study the origin and properties of unbound stars in the kinematic samples of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. For this purpose we have run a high resolution N-body simulation of a two-component dwarf galaxy orbiting in a Milky Way potential. We create mock kinematic data sets by observing the dwarf in different directions. When the dwarf is observed along the tidal tails the kinematic samples are strongly contaminated by unbound stars from the tails. However, most of the unbound stars can be removed by the method of interloper rejection proposed by den Hartog & Katgert. We model the velocity dispersion profiles of the cleaned-up kinematic samples using solutions of the Jeans equation. We show that even for such a strongly stripped dwarf the Jeans analysis, when applied to cleaned samples, allows us to reproduce the mass and mass-to-light ratio of the dwarf with accuracy typically better than 25%.