CALIFA, the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey

TLDR

The final product of galaxy evolution through cosmic time is the population of galaxies in the local universe, which can be studied in most detail and thus provide a stringent benchmark for our understanding of galaxy evolution, but an authoritative observational description requires measuring their spatially resolved properties over their full optical extent for a statistically significant sample. The CALIFA survey was designed to provide a first step toward such an authoritative, spatially resolved description of galaxies. CALIFA selects a statistically representative sample of local galaxies, observes them with integral field spectroscopy, and processes the data through a dedicated reduction pipeline with quality control schemes to deliver high‑quality, spatially resolved spectra across the full optical extent.

Abstract

The final product of galaxy evolution through cosmic time is the population of galaxies in the local universe. These galaxies are also those that can be studied in most detail, thus providing a stringent benchmark for our understanding of galaxy evolution. Through the huge success of spectroscopic single-fiber, statistical surveys of the Local Universe in the last decade, it has become clear, however, that an authoritative observational description of galaxies will involve measuring their spatially resolved properties over their full optical extent for a statistically significant sample. We present here the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey, which has been designed to provide a first step in this direction. We summarize the survey goals and design, including sample selection and observational strategy. We also showcase the data taken during the first observing runs (June/July 2010) and outline the reduction pipeline, quality control schemes and general characteristics of the reduced data.