The MeerKAT Fornax Survey

TL;DR

The MeerKAT Fornax Survey aims to study galaxy evolution, gas dynamics, and cosmic web interactions in the Fornax cluster using HI and radio continuum observations, providing insights into cluster assembly and galaxy-environment interactions.

Contribution

This survey provides new high-resolution HI and radio continuum data of the Fornax cluster, enabling detailed analysis of galaxy morphology, gas content, and cosmic web gas detection in a nearby, low X-ray luminosity environment.

Findings

HI morphology of galaxies down to 1 kpc resolution

Measurement of the HI mass function slope

Potential detection of HI in the cosmic web at 10 kpc resolution

Abstract

We present the science case and observations plan of the MeerKAT Fornax Survey, an HI and radio continuum survey of the Fornax galaxy cluster to be carried out with the SKA precursor MeerKAT. Fornax is the second most massive cluster within 20 Mpc and the largest nearby cluster in the southern hemisphere. Its low X-ray luminosity makes it representative of the environment where most galaxies live and where substantial galaxy evolution takes place. Fornax's ongoing growth makes it an excellent laboratory for studying the assembly of clusters, the physics of gas accretion and stripping in galaxies falling in the cluster, and the connection between these processes and the neutral medium in the cosmic web. We will observe a region of 12 deg$^2$ reaching a projected distance of 1.5 Mpc from the cluster centre. This will cover a wide range of environment density out to the outskirts of the cluster, where gas-rich in-falling groups are found. We will: study the HI morphology of resolved galaxies down to a column density of a few times 1e+19 cm$^{-2}$ at a resolution of 1 kpc; measure the slope of the HI mass function down to M(HI) 5e+5 M(sun); and attempt to detect HI in the cosmic web reaching a column density of 1e+18 cm$^{-2}$ at a resolution of 10 kpc.