CALIFA Research Articles

Inner and outer star forming regions over the discs of spiral galaxies I. Sample characterization

AbstractThis project is aimed at understanding the dependence of star formation on the environment by analysing young stellar populations in two very different positions in disk galaxies: circumnuclear and outer disk giant regions. Integral field spectroscopy (IFS) provide an ideal means to achieve these goals providing simultaneous spatial and spectral resolution. Here we present the characterization of the work sample, composed by 671 outer regions and 725 inner regions from 263 isolated spirals galaxies observed by the CALIFA survey. The wide number of regions in both samples allows us to obtain statistically relevant results about the influence of metallicity, density and environment on star formation, and how it disseminates over the galaxy, to obtain evolutionary stories for the star-forming regions and to compare our results with models of massive star formation and galactic chemical evolution.

Shape of the oxygen abundance profiles in CALIFA face-on spiral galaxies

We measured the gas abundance profiles in a sample of 122 face-on spiral galaxies observed by the CALIFA survey and included all spaxels whose line emission was consistent with star formation. This type of analysis allowed us to improve the statistics with respect to previous studies, and to properly estimate the oxygen distribution across the entire disc to a distance of up to 3-4 disc effective radii (r$_e$). We confirm the results obtained from classical HII region analysis. In addition to the general negative gradient, an outer flattening can be observed in the oxygen abundance radial profile. An inner drop is also found in some cases. There is a common abundance gradient between 0.5 and 2.0 r$_e$ of $\alpha_{O/H} = -\,0.075\,\rm{dex}/r_e$ with a scatter of $\sigma = 0.016\,\rm{dex}/r_e$ when normalising the distances to the disc effective radius. By performing a set of Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, we determined that this slope is independent of other galaxy properties, such as morphology, absolute magnitude, and the presence or absence of bars. In particular, barred galaxies do not seem to display shallower gradients, as predicted by numerical simulations. Interestingly, we find that most of the galaxies in the sample with reliable oxygen abundance values beyond $\sim 2$ effective radii (57 galaxies) present a flattening of the abundance gradient in these outer regions. This flattening is not associated with any morphological feature, which suggests that it is a common property of disc galaxies. Finally, we detect a drop or truncation of the abundance in the inner regions of 27 galaxies in the sample; this is only visible for the most massive galaxies.

Simultaneous spectroscopic and photometric analysis of galaxies with starlight: CALIFA+GALEX

We present an extended version of the spectral synthesis code STARLIGHT designed to incorporate both $\lambda$-by-$\lambda$ spectra and photometric fluxes in the estimation of stellar population properties of galaxies. The code is tested with simulations and data for 260 galaxies culled from the CALIFA survey, spatially matching the 3700--7000 \AA\ optical datacubes to GALEX near and far UV images. The sample spans E--Sd galaxies with masses from $10^9$ to $10^{12} M_\odot$ and stellar populations all the way from star-forming to old, passive systems. Comparing results derived from purely optical fits with those which also consider the NUV and FUV data we find that: (1) The new code is capable of matching the input UV data within the errors while keeping the quality of the optical fit essentially unchanged. (2) Despite being unreliable predictors of the UV fluxes, purely optical fits yield stellar population properties which agree well with those obtained in optical+UV fits for nearly 90% of our sample. (3) The addition of UV constraints has little impact on properties such as stellar mass and dust optical depth. Mean stellar ages and metallicities also remain nearly the same for most galaxies, the exception being low-mass, late-type galaxies, which become older and less enriched due to rearrangements of their youngest populations. (4) The revised ages are better correlated with observables such as the 4000 \AA\ break index, and the $NUV - r$ and $u - r$ colours, an empirical indication that the addition of UV constraints helps mitigating the effects of age-metallicity-extinction degeneracies.

Outer-disk reddening and gas-phase metallicities: The CALIFA connection

We study, for the first time in a statistically significant and well-defined sample, the relation between the outer-disk ionized-gas metallicity gradients and the presence of breaks in the surface brightness profiles of disk galaxies. SDSS g'- and r'-band surface brightness, (g'- r') color, and ionized-gas oxygen abundance profiles for 324 galaxies within the CALIFA survey are used for this purpose. We perform a detailed light-profile classification finding that 84% of our disks show down- or up-bending profiles (Type II and Type III, respectively) while the remaining 16% are well fitted by one single exponential (Type I). The analysis of the color gradients at both sides of this break shows a U-shaped profile for most Type II galaxies with an average minimum (g'- r') color of ~0.5 mag and a ionized-gas metallicity flattening associated to it only in the case of low-mass galaxies. More massive systems show a rather uniform negative metallicity gradient. The correlation between metallicity flattening and stellar mass results in p-values as low as 0.01. Independently of the mechanism having shaped the outer light profiles of these galaxies, stellar migration or a previous episode of star formation in a shrinking star-forming disk, it is clear that the imprint in their ionized-gas metallicity was different for low- and high-mass Type II galaxies. In the case of Type III disks, a positive correlation between the change in color and abundance gradient is found (the null hypothesis is ruled out with a p-value of 0.02), with the outer disks of Type III galaxies with masses $\leq$10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$ showing a weak color reddening or even a bluing. This is interpreted as primarily due to a mass down-sizing effect on the population of Type III galaxies having recently experienced an enhanced inside-out growth.

Star formation in the local Universe from the CALIFA sample

The Star Formation Rate (SFR) is one of the main parameters used to analyze the evolution of galaxies through time. The need for recovering the light reprocessed by dust commonly requires the use of low spatial resolution far-infrared data. Recombination-line luminosities provide an alternative, although uncertain dust-extinction corrections based on narrow-band imaging or long-slit spectroscopy have traditionally posed a limit to their applicability. Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) is clearly the way to overcome such limitation. We obtain integrated H{\alpha}, ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR)-based SFR measurements for 272 galaxies from the CALIFA survey at 0.005 < z < 0.03 using single-band and hybrid tracers. We provide updated calibrations, both global and split by properties (including stellar mass and morphological type), referred to H{\alpha}. The extinction-corrected H{\alpha} luminosity agrees with the updated hybrid SFR estimators based on either UV or H{\alpha} plus IR luminosity over the full range of SFRs (0.03-20 M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$). The coefficient that weights the amount of energy produced by newly-born stars that is reprocessed by dust on the hybrid tracers, a$_{IR}$, shows a large dispersion. However, it does not became increasingly small at high attenuations, as expected if significant highly-obscured H$\alpha$ emission would be missed. Lenticulars, early-type spirals and type-2 AGN host galaxies show smaller coefficients due to the contribution of optical photons and AGN to dust heating. In the Local Universe the H{\alpha} luminosity derived from IFS observations can be used to measure SFR, at least in statistically-significant, optically-selected galaxy samples. The analysis of the SFR calibrations by galaxies properties could be potentially used by other works to study the impact of different selection criteria in the SFR values derived.

The CALIFA survey across the Hubble sequence

This paper characterizes the radial structure of stellar population properties of galaxies in the nearby universe, based on 300 galaxies from the CALIFA survey. The sample covers a wide range of Hubble types, and galaxy stellar mass. We apply the spectral synthesis techniques to recover the stellar mass surface density, stellar extinction, light and mass-weighted ages, and mass-weighted metallicity, for each spatial resolution element in our target galaxies. To study mean trends with overall galaxy properties, the individual radial profiles are stacked in seven bins of galaxy morphology. We confirm that more massive galaxies are more compact, older, more metal rich, and less reddened by dust. Additionally, we find that these trends are preserved spatially with the radial distance to the nucleus. Deviations from these relations appear correlated with Hubble type: earlier types are more compact, older, and more metal rich for a given mass, which evidences that quenching is related to morphology, but not driven by mass. Negative gradients of ages are consistent with an inside-out growth of galaxies, with the largest ages gradients in Sb-Sbc galaxies. Further, the mean stellar ages of disks and bulges are correlated, with disks covering a wider range of ages, and late type spirals hosting younger disks. The gradients in stellar mass surface density depend mostly on stellar mass, in the sense that more massive galaxies are more centrally concentrated. There is a secondary correlation in the sense that at the same mass early type galaxies have steeper gradients. We find mildly negative metallicity gradients, shallower than predicted from models of galaxy evolution in isolation. The largest gradients occur in Sb galaxies. Overall we conclude that quenching processes act in manners that are independent of mass, while metallicity and galaxy structure are influenced by mass-dependent processes.

CALIFA spectroscopy of the interacting galaxy NGC 5394 (Arp 84): starbursts, enhanced [N ii]6584 and signs of outflows and shocks

We investigate the spiral galaxy NGC 5394, which is strongly interacting with the larger spiral NGC 5395 (the pair is Arp 84), using optical integral-field spectroscopy from the CALIFA survey. Spatially-resolved equivalent-widths, emission-line ratios and kinematics reveal many features related to the interaction, which has reshaped the galaxy. $\rm H\alpha$ maps (with other diagnostic emission lines) show a concentrated central ($r<1$ kpc) starburst and three less luminous star-forming regions (one knot far out in the northern arm), and we estimate the dust-corrected total star-formation rate as 3.39 $\rm M_{\odot}yr^{-1}$. However, much of the galaxy, especially the outer tidal arms, has a post-starburst spectrum, evidence of a more extensive episode of star-formation a few $\times 10^8$ yr ago, triggered by the previous perigalacticon. The $\rm [NII]6584/H\alpha$ ratio is high in the nucleus, reaching 0.63 at the centre, which we interpret as related to high electron density ($n_e\simeq 750$ $\rm cm^{-3}$ from the $\rm [SII]{6717\over 6731}$ ratio). We find a central region of strong and blueshifted NaI(5890,5896) absorption, indicative of a starburst-driven outflow from the nucleus at an estimated velocity $\sim 223$ km $\rm s^{-1}$. The CALIFA data also show an annular region at radii 2.25--4 kpc from the nucleus, with elevated ratios of [NII], [OI]6300 etc. to the Balmer lines -- this is evidence of shock excitation, which might be the result of interaction-triggered gas inflow.

The Distribution of Stellar Populations within Galaxies

AbstractStellar populations are fossil records of several physical processes which occur in galaxies and their distribution within these objects may provide important clues on how they form and evolve. By using parameters from image processing we have been developing a new approach to understand the spatial distribution of stellar populations and how this is correlated with the form and evolution of galaxies. In this work we present some results obtained with data from the CALIFA survey.

On the Variation of Gas Depletion Time

AbstractWe present an updated status of the EDGE project, which is a survey of 125 local galaxies in the 12CO(1−0) and 13CO(1−0) lines. We combine the molecular data of the EDGE survey with the stellar and ionized gas maps of the CALIFA survey to give a comprehensive view of the dependence of the star formation efficiency, or equivalently, the molecular gas depletion time, on various local environments, such as the stellar surface density, metallicity, and radius from the galaxy center. This study will provide insight into the parameters that drive the star formation efficiency in galaxies at z ~ 0.

The incidence of bar-like kinematic flows in CALIFA galaxies

We carry out a direct search for bar-like non-circular flows in intermediate-inclination, gas-rich disk galaxies with a range of morphological types and photometric bar classifications from the first data release (DR1) of the CALIFA survey. We use the DiskFit algorithm to apply rotation only and bisymmetric flow models to H$\alpha$ velocity fields for 49/100 CALIFA DR1 systems that meet our selection criteria. We find satisfactory fits for a final sample of 37 systems. DiskFit is sensitive to the radial or tangential components of a bar-like flow with amplitudes greater than $15\,$km$\,$s$^{-1}$ across at least two independent radial bins in the fit, or ~2.25 kpc at the characteristic final sample distance of ~75 Mpc. The velocity fields of 25/37 $(67.6^{+6.6}_{-8.5}\%)$ galaxies are best characterized by pure rotation, although only 17/25 $(68.0^{+7.7}_{-10.4}\%)$ of them have sufficient H$\alpha$ emission near the galaxy centre to afford a search for non-circular flows. We detect non-circular flows in the remaining 12/37 $(32.4^{+8.5}_{-6.6}\%)$ galaxies. We conclude that the non-circular flows detected in 11/12 $(91.7^{+2.8}_{-14.9}\%)$ systems stem from bars. Galaxies with intermediate (AB) bars are largely undetected, and our detection thresholds therefore represent upper limits to the amplitude of the non-circular flows therein. We find 2/23 $(8.7^{+9.6}_{-2.9}\%)$ galaxies that show non-circular motions consistent with a bar-like flow, yet no photometric bar is evident. This suggests that in ~10% of galaxies either the existence of a bar may be missed completely in photometry or other processes may drive bar-like flows and thus secular galaxy evolution.

Central star formation and metallicity in CALIFA interacting galaxies

We use optical integral-field spectroscopic (IFS) data from 103 nearby galaxies at different stages of the merging event, from close pairs to merger remnants provided by the CALIFA survey, to study the impact of the interaction in the specific star formation and oxygen abundance on different galactic scales. To disentangle the effect of the interaction and merger from internal processes, we compared our results with a control sample of 80 non-interacting galaxies. We confirm the moderate enhancement (2-3 times) of specific star formation for interacting galaxies in central regions as reported by previous studies; however, the specific star formation is comparable when observed in extended regions. We find that control and interacting star-forming galaxies have similar oxygen abundances in their central regions, when normalized to their stellar masses. Oxygen abundances of these interacting galaxies seem to decrease compared to the control objects at the large aperture sizes measured in effective radius. Although the enhancement in central star formation and lower metallicities for interacting galaxies have been attributed to tidally induced inflows, our results suggest that other processes such as stellar feedback can contribute to the metal enrichment in interacting galaxies.

IMF–METALLICITY: A TIGHT LOCAL RELATION REVEALED BY THE CALIFA SURVEY

Variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) have been invoked to explain the spectroscopic and dynamical properties of early-type galaxies. However, no observations have yet been able to disentangle the physical driver. We analyse here a sample of 24 early-type galaxies drawn from the CALIFA survey, deriving in a homogeneous way their stellar population and kinematic properties. We find that the local IMF is tightly related to the local metallicity, becoming more bottom-heavy towards metal-rich populations. Our result, combined with the galaxy mass-metallicity relation, naturally explains previous claims of a galaxy mass-IMF relation, derived from non-IFU spectra. If we assume that - within the star formation environment of early-type galaxies - metallicity is the main driver of IMF variations, a significant revision of the interpretation of galaxy evolution observables is necessary.

Imprints of galaxy evolution on H II regions

H ii regions in galaxies are the sites of star formation and thus particular places to understand the build-up of stellar mass in the universe. The line ratios of this ionized gas are frequently used to characterize the ionization conditions. We use the Hii regions catalogue from the CALIFA survey (~5000 H ii regions), to explore their distribution across the classical [OIII]/Hbeta vs. [NII]/Halpha diagnostic diagram, and how it depends on the oxygen abundance, ionization parameter, electron density, and dust attenuation. We compared the line ratios with predictions from photoionization models. Finally, we explore the dependences on the properties of the host galaxies, the location within those galaxies and the properties of the underlying stellar population. We found that the location within the BPT diagrams is not totally predicted by photoionization models. Indeed, it depends on the properties of the host galaxies, their galactocentric distances and the properties of the underlying stellar population. These results indicate that although H ii regions are short lived events, they are affected by the total underlying stellar population. One may say that H ii regions keep a memory of the stellar evolution and chemical enrichment that have left an imprint on the both the ionizing stellar population and the ionized gas

Ionized gas kinematics of galaxies in the CALIFA survey

This work provides an overall characterization of the kinematic behavior of the ionized gas of the galaxies included in the Calar Alto Legacy Integral field Area (CALIFA), offering kinematic clues to potential users of this survey for including kinematical criteria for specific studies. From the first 200 galaxies observed by CALIFA, we present the 2D kinematic view of the 177 galaxies satisfying a gas detection threshold. After removing the stellar contribution, we used the cross-correlation technique to obtain the radial velocity of the dominant gaseous component. The main kinematic parameters were directly derived from the radial velocities with no assumptions on the internal motions. Evidence of the presence of several gaseous components with different kinematics were detected by using [OIII] profiles. Most objects in the sample show regular velocity fields, although the ionized-gas kinematics are rarely consistent with simple coplanar circular motions. 35% of the objects present evidence of a displacement between the photometric and kinematic centers larger than the original spaxel radii. Only 17% of the objects in the sample exhibit kinematic lopsidedness when comparing receding and approaching sides of the velocity fields, but most of them are interacting galaxies exhibiting nuclear activity. Early-type galaxies in the sample present clear photometric-kinematic misaligments. There is evidence of asymmetries in the emission line profiles suggesting the presence of kinematically distinct gaseous components at different distances from the nucleus. This work constitutes the first determination of the ionized gas kinematics of the galaxies observed in the CALIFA survey. The derived velocity fields, the reported kinematic peculiarities and the identification of the presence of several gaseous components might be used as additional criteria for selecting galaxies for specific studies.

Nearby supernova host galaxies from the CALIFA Survey

We use optical integral field spectroscopy (IFS) of nearby supernova (SN) host galaxies (0.005 <z< 0.03) provided by the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) Survey with the goal of finding correlations in the environmental parameters at the location of different SN types. In this first study of a series we focus on the properties related with star formation (SF). We recover the sequence in association of different SN types to the star-forming regions by using several indicators of the ongoing and recent SF related to both the ionized gas and the stellar populations. While the total ongoing SF is on average the same for the three SN types, SNe Ibc/IIb tend to occur closer to star-forming regions and in higher SF density locations than SNe II and SNe Ia; the latter shows the weakest correlation. SNe Ia host galaxies have masses that are on average ~0.3−0.8 dex higher than those of the core collapse (CC) SNe hosts because the SNe Ia hosts contain alarger fraction of old stellar populations. Using the recent SN Ia delay-time distribution and the SFHs of the galaxies, we show that the SN Ia hosts in our sample are expected to produce twice as many SNe Ia as the CC SN hosts. Since both types occur in hosts with a similar SF rate and hence similar CC SN rate, this can explain the mass difference between the SN Ia and CC SN hosts, and reinforces the finding that at least part of the SNe Ia originate from very old progenitors. By comparing the mean SFH of the eight least massive galaxies with that of the massive SF SN Ia hosts, we find that the low-mass galaxies formed their stars during a longer time (0.65%, 24.46%, and 74.89% in the intervals 0–0.42 Gyr, 0.42–2.4 Gyr, and >2.4 Gyr, respectively) than the massive SN Ia hosts (0.04%, 2.01%, and 97.95% in these intervals). We estimate that the low-mass galaxies produce ten times fewer SNe Ia and three times fewer CC SNe than the high-mass group. Therefore the ratio between the number of CC SNe and SNe Ia is expected to increase with decreasing galaxy mass. CC SNe tend to explode at positions with younger stellar populations than the galaxy average, but the galaxy properties at SNe Ia locations are one average the same as the global galaxy properties.

Stellar population gradients in galaxy discs from the CALIFA survey

While studies of gas-phase metallicity gradients in disc galaxies are common, very little has been done in the acquisition of stellar abundance gradients in the same regions. We present here a comparative study of the stellar metallicity and age distributions in a sample of 62 nearly face-on, spiral galaxies with and without bars, using data from the CALIFA survey. We measure the slopes of the gradients and study their relation with other properties of the galaxies. We find that the mean stellar age and metallicity gradients in the disc are shallow and negative. Furthermore, when normalized to the effective radius of the disc, the slope of the stellar population gradients does not correlate with the mass or with the morphological type of the galaxies. Contrary to this, the values of both age and metallicity at $\sim$2.5 scale-lengths correlate with the central velocity dispersion in a similar manner to the central values of the bulges, although bulges show, on average, older ages and higher metallicities than the discs. One of the goals of the present paper is to test the theoretical prediction that non-linear coupling between the bar and the spiral arms is an efficient mechanism for producing radial migrations across significant distances within discs. The process of radial migration should flatten the stellar metallicity gradient with time and, therefore, we would expect flatter stellar metallicity gradients in barred galaxies. However, we do not find any difference in the metallicity or age gradients in galaxies with without bars. We discuss possible scenarios that can lead to this absence of difference.

THE BEHAVIOR OF THE PITCH ANGLE OF SPIRAL ARMS DEPENDING ON OPTICAL WAVELENGTH

Based on integral field spectroscopy data from the CALIFA survey, we investigate the possible dependence of spiral arm pitch angle with optical wavelength. For three of the five studied objects, the pitch angle gradually increases at longer wavelengths. This is not the case for two objects where the pitch angle remains constant. This result is confirmed by the analysis of SDSS data. We discuss the possible physical mechanisms to explain this phenomenon, as well as the implications of the results.

CALIFA: a diameter-selected sample for an integral field spectroscopy galaxy survey

We describe and discuss the selection procedure and statistical properties of the galaxy sample used by the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey (CALIFA), a public legacy survey of 600 galaxies using integral field spectroscopy. The CALIFA "mother sample" was selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7 photometric catalogue to include all galaxies with an r-band isophotal major axis between 45" and 79.2" and with a redshift 0.005 < z < 0.03. The mother sample contains 939 objects, 600 of which will be observed in the course of the CALIFA survey. The selection of targets for observations is based solely on visibility and thus keeps the statistical properties of the mother sample. By comparison with a large set of SDSS galaxies, we find that the CALIFA sample is representative of galaxies over a luminosity range of -19 > Mr > -23.1 and over a stellar mass range between 10^9.7 and 10^11.4Msun. In particular, within these ranges, the diameter selection does not lead to any significant bias against - or in favour of - intrinsically large or small galaxies. Only below luminosities of Mr = -19 (or stellar masses < 10^9.7Msun) is there a prevalence of galaxies with larger isophotal sizes, especially of nearly edge-on late-type galaxies, but such galaxies form < 10% of the full sample. We estimate volume-corrected distribution functions in luminosities and sizes and show that these are statistically fully compatible with estimates from the full SDSS when accounting for large-scale structure. We also present a number of value-added quantities determined for the galaxies in the CALIFA sample. We explore different ways of characterizing the environments of CALIFA galaxies, finding that the sample covers environmental conditions from the field to genuine clusters. We finally consider the expected incidence of active galactic nuclei among CALIFA galaxies.

Angular Momentum across the Hubble sequence from the CALIFA survey

AbstractWe investigate the stellar angular momentum of galaxies across the Hubble sequence from the CALIFA survey. The distribution of CALIFA elliptical and lenticular galaxies in the λRe - εe diagram is consistent with that shown by the Atlas3D survey. Our data, however, show that the location of spiral galaxies in this diagram is significantly different. We have found two families of spiral galaxies with particularly peculiar properties: (a) spiral galaxies with much higher λRe values than any elliptical and lenticular galaxy; (b) low-mass spiral galaxies with observed λRe values much lower than expected for their apparent flattening. We use these two families of objects to argue that (1) fading alone cannot explain the transformation of spiral to lenticular galaxies, and (2) that those low-mass spiral galaxies are in fact dark matter dominated, which explains the unusually low angular momentum.

Star Formation in the Local Universe from the CALIFA sample: calibration and contribution of disks to the SFR density

AbstractThe study of the star formation rate (SFR) is crucial for understanding the birth and evolution of the galaxies (Kennicutt 1998), with this aim in mind, we make use of a well-characterized sample of 380 nearby galaxies from the CALIFA survey that fill the entire color-magnitude diagram in the Local Universe. The availability of wide-field CALIFA IFS ensures a proper determination of the underlying stellar continuum and, consequently, of the extiction-corrected Hα luminosity. We compare our integrated Hα-based SFRs with single and hybrids tracers at other wavelengths found in the literature (Calzetti 2013). Then, we provide a new set of single-band and hybrid calibrators anchored to the extinction-corrected Hα luminosities. In the case of the hybrid calibrators we determine the best fitting aIR coefficients for different combinations of observed (UV or Hα) and dust-reprocessed (22μm or TIR) SFR contributions (where SFR ∝ Lobs + aIR × L[IR]). This analysis allow us to provide, for the first time, a set of hybrid calibrations for different morphological types and masses. These are particularly useful in case that the sample to be analyzed shows a different bias in terms of morphology or, more commonly, luminosity or stellar mass. We also study the dependence of this coefficient with color and ionized-gas attenuation. The distributions of aIR values are quite wide in all cases. We found that not single physical property can by itself explain the variation found in aIR.Finally, we explore the spatial distribution of the SFR by measuring the contribution of disks to the total SFR in the Local Universe. Our preliminary spatially-resolved analysis shows that the disk to total (disk + spheroidal component) SFR ratio is on average ∼ 88%. The use of the 2D spectroscopic data is critical to properly determine the Hα luminosity function and SFR density in the Local Universe per galaxy components, the ultimate goal of this project.