We describe the design, manufacture, commissioning, and performance of PMAS, the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer. PMAS is a dedicated integral field spectrophotometer, optimized to cover the optical wavelength regime of 0.35-1 µm. It is based on the lens array -fiber bundle principle of operation. The instrument employs an all-refractive fiber spectrograph, built with CaF 2 optics, to provide good transmission and high image quality over the entire nominal wavelength range. A set of user-selectable reflective gratings provides low to medium spectral resolution in first order of approx. 1.5, 3.2, and 7 Å, depending on the groove density (1200, 600, 300 gr/mm). While the standard integral field unit (IFU) uses a 16×16 element lens array, which provides seeing-limited sampling in a relatively small field-of-view (FOV) in one of three magnifications (8×8, 12×12, or 16×16 arcsec 2 , respectively), a recently retrofitted bare fiber bundle IFU (PPak) expands the FOV to a hexagonal area with a footprint of 65×74 arcsec 2 . Other special features include a cryogenic CCD camera for field acquisition and guiding, a nod-shuffle mode for beam switching and improved sky background subtraction, and a scanning Fabry-Pérot etalon in combination with the standard IFU (PYTHEAS mode). PMAS was initially designed and built as an experimental traveling instrument with optical interfaces to various telescopes (Calar Alto 3.5m, ESO-VLT, LBT). It is offered as a common user instrument at Calar Alto under contract with MPIA Heidelberg since 2002.

PPak is a new fiber-based Integral Field Unit (IFU), developed at the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, implemented as a module into the existing PMAS spectrograph. The purpose of PPak is to provide both an extended field-of-view with a large light collecting power for each spatial element, as well as an adequate spectral resolution. The PPak system consists of a fiber bundle with 331 object, 36 sky and 15 calibration fibers. The object and sky fibers collect the light from the focal plane behind a focal reducer lens. The object fibers of PPak, each 2.7 arcseconds in diameter, provide a contiguous hexagonal field-of-view of 74 × 64 arcseconds on the sky, with a filling factor of 60%. The operational wavelength range is from 400 to 900 nm. The PPak-IFU, together with the PMAS spectrograph, are intended for the study of extended, low surface brightness objects, offering an optimization of total light-collecting power and spectral resolution. This paper describes the instrument design, the assembly, integration and tests, the commissioning and operational procedures, and presents the measured performance at the telescope.

Abstract. We present the first spatially resolved spectroscopic observations of the recently discovered quadruple QSO and gravitational lens HE 0435−1223. Using the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS), we show that all four QSO components have very similar but not identical spectra. In particular, the spectral slopes of components A, B, and D are indistinguishable, implying that extinction due to dust plays no major role in the lensing galaxy. While also the emission line profiles are identical within the error bars, as expected from lensing, the equivalent widths show significant differences between components. Most likely, microlensing is responsible for this phenomenon. This is also consistent with the fact that component D, which shows the highest relative continuum level, has brightened by 0.07 mag since Dec. 2001. We find that the emission line flux ratios between the components are in better agreement with simple lens models than broad band or continuum measurements, but that the discrepancies between model and data are still unacceptably large. Finally, we present a detection of the lensing galaxy, although this is close to the limits of the data. Comparing with a model galaxy spectrum, we obtain a redshift estimate of z lens = 0.44 ± 0.02.

Abstract. We present optical integral field observations of the H II region containing the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1. We confirm the existence of an X-ray ionized nebula as the counterpart of the source owing to the detection of an extended He II λ4686 region (21 × 47 pc) at the Chandra ACIS-S position. An extended blue object with a size of 11 × 14 pc is coincident with the X-ray/He II λ4686 region, which could indicate that it is either a young stellar complex or a cluster. We have derived an X-ray to optical luminosity ratio of L X /L B ≥ 170, and presumable it is L X /L B ∼ 300−400 using the recent HST ACS data. We find a complex velocity dispersion at the position of the ULX. In addition, there is a radial velocity variation in the X-ray ionized region found in the He II emission of ±50 km s −1 on spatial scales of 2-3 . We believe that the putative black hole not only ionizes the surrounding HII gas, but also perturbs it dynamically (via jets or the accretion disk wind). The spatial analysis of the public Chandra ACIS-S data reveals a point-like X-ray source and gives marginal indication of an extended component ( 15% of the total flux). The XMM-Newton EPIC-PN spectrum of HoII X-1 is best fitted with an absorbed power law in addition to either a thermal thick plasma or a thermal thin plasma or a multi-colour disk black body (MCD). In all cases, the thermal component shows a relatively low temperature (kT ∼ 0.14−0.22 keV). Finally we discuss the optical/X-ray properties of HoII X-1 with regards to the possible nature of the source. The existence of an X-ray ionized nebula coincident with the ULX and the soft X-ray component with a cool accretion disk favours the interpretation as an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). However, the complex velocity behaviour at the position of the ULX indicates a dynamical influence of the black hole on the local HII gas.

The reduction of integral-field spectrograph (IFS) data is demanding work. Many repetitive operations are required to convert raw data into, typically, a large number of spectra. This effort can be markedly simplified through the use of a tool or pipeline, which is designed to complete many of the repetitive operations without human interaction. Here we present our semi-automatic data-reduction tool p3d, which is designed to be used with fiber-fed IFSs. Important components of p3d include a novel algorithm for automatic finding and tracing of spectra on the detector and two methods of optimal spectrum extraction in addition to standard aperture extraction. p3d also provides tools to combine several images, perform wavelength calibration and flat field data. p3d is at the moment configured for four IFSs. To evaluate its performance, we tested the different components of the tool. For these tests we used both simulated and observational data. We demonstrate that a correction for so-called cross-talk due to overlapping spectra on the detector is required for three of the IFSs. Without such a correction, spectra will be inaccurate, in particular if there is a significant intensity gradient across the object. Our tests showed that p3d is able to produce accurate results. p3d is a highly general and freely available tool. It is easily extended to include improved algorithms, new visualization tools, and support for additional instruments. The program code can be downloaded from the p3d-project web site http://p3d.sourceforge.net.