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\begin{document} 
\section*{THE LIVING GALAXY}

\vskip 0.8cm

{\Large{\bf A survey project with ODI at WIYN}}

\vskip 1.2cm

\section*{\bf Principal Investigators:}

\noindent {\bf Marina Orio, Rich Townsend} \\

\section*{Co-Investigators:}

\noindent {\bf Jay Gallagher, Daniel Harbeck, Sebastian Heinz} 
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\section{Abstract}
 We propose a time monitoring survey of the North-East quadrant of
 Andromeda and all the Triangulum galaxy with the WIYN One Degree Imager
 (ODI). It will be the first systematic study of optical variability of 
the two galaxies, with four filters, including the narrow band 
H$\alpha$. The sampling time scales will be minutes, hours,
 days, months and years. Our central science drivers are 
the following: obtain a full picture
 of compact object binaries in outburst, including rates of
 different classes of novae and black hole transients, 
 derive statistics and basic
 parameters of quiescent symbiotics and high mass X-ray binaries,
 study  massive star variability, like $\beta$ Cepheids and 
 flaring Be stars, and acquire a database useful for the  
 study of long period variables and microlensing.
 This project will be a legacy and a reference for 
 the study of variable stars populations for many years to come,
 and will also yield the deepest H$\alpha$ exposures ever
 obtained for  M31 and M33. 
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\begin{figure}[h]
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\vspace{ -1cm}
\caption{\small{Comparison between an HST ACS image, and the same image degraded
 to ODI best quality (middle) and best quality of the 4m telescope at Kitt Peak. }}
\end{figure}
%

\bigskip

\section{Scientific Goals}

  Variable stars led humans to pay attention to the ``divine signs''
 in the sky and fostered people's curiosity about the Universe.
    In our 21st  century, the next decade is going to be the epoch of large astronomical
 {\it surveys}, and of {\it high resolution}. Spectral and spatial
 resolution are both improving  at a fast pace with the current instruments,
 but the time
   resolution is improving even more rapidly.
 Out of 17 Letters of Intent that the IAU
 recently received for symposia in 2011, two and large part
 of a third one are completely dedicated to timing analysis of
 astronomical sources.
   We propose to bring the wide field imager of
 a mid-size telescope with excellent optics into the {\it time domain}.

By  regularly monitoring rich and varied stellar population over one degree 
 fields we will explore the parameter space 
 of close binaries undergoing mass transfer, and of massive
 stars instabilities.
 Massive stars and accreting binaries are two topics of excellence 
 in Wisconsin, in which we  have knowledge and expertise.
Transient, eruptive objects among these two classes of objects will constitute
 a main component of the {\it Living Galaxy}. 
 In addition, our database will be invaluable for microlensing studies,
 of interest to several international research groups and to one of
 our external collaborators. Our co-I Calchi-Novati  is an expert of software
used to identify variability in large datasets,  and therefore brings 
also a precious contribution to the project.
 We will also be able to measure the light curves
 of Cepheids and eclipsing binaries 
 for accurate distance determinations and evaluation of the
 metallicity-standard candle relationship. Finally,
 since we will  use H$\alpha$ images to pursue our scientific goals,  
 we will obtain the deepest and most complete H$\alpha$ maps of
 these galaxies, which will be an important legacy of the 
{\it Living Galaxy}.

 The classes of objects and phenomena we will study are  described in Section
 3. The observation plan is discussed in detail in Section 4,
which includes a table indicating the cadence and filters
that are necessary for each of our scientific
 goals. 
 In Section 5 we briefly explain what photometric reference 
 is available to us, and in Section 6 we make the case for ODI to pursue this particular
 project by showing how it is competitive in the ``realm'' of wide field
 imagers. Section 7 contains some plans on data analysis and management,
 in Section 8 we discuss the spectroscopic follow up. Finally, we outline
 the scientist involved and growing collaborations  and sketch the time line of the
 project in Sections 9 and 10, respectively.  

\bigskip

%
\section{ Variable stars: The astronomy of the
 last millennia in an innovative project of our days}
 

Our knowledge of the Local Group stellar populations 
 has been greatly expanded in the last years, thanks to
 high resolution imagers with larger fields at ground based
 telescopes and to the Hubble. The metallicity dependence
 of distance indicators like RR Lyrae and Cepheids
 has been studied in several galaxies, and H-R diagrams of extensive regions
 of Local Group galaxies are revealing the history of star formation.
  ODI on WIYN, a one degree field detector with 
 scheduling flexibility and a substantial
 number of nights per year allocated to the UW, wll
give the  unprecedented 
 occasion to improve also the study of the interacting binaries population, a
 necessary ingredient to understand  the distant universe.
 Fig. 1 shows the typical spatial resolution of ODI, compared
 with other ground  telescopes and with HST. Although clearly
 we cannot compete with HST resolution, we have instruments that
 obtain the best results from the ground, and are excellent 
 for the study of resolved stellar population in nearby galaxies.

Methods and software
 packages have been devised in recent years to study variability even in 
 non-resolved stellar population. This is something we will definitely
 want to do in the central 5 arcminutes of M31 and central 3 arcminutes of M33,
 where crowding and diffuse light make other methods impossible.  
 However, even at larger distance from the core these rapid methods of
 image comparison allow to detect variable objects more quickly and efficiently
 than traditional photometry. 

One of the most accurate determinations of the distance modulus of M31
 is 24.47$\pm$0.06 (Stanek \& Granavich 1998).
This distance modulus, which is comparable
 for M33, implies that we will observe
a very large number of optical transients
in outburst, and quiescent variable phenomena involving massive stars. 
  In the course of this  five year project we will obtain 
 precise statistics on 
 novae and symbiotic systems, explore the behaviour of optical
 counterparts of eruptive 
 of X-ray binaries (XRB), especially those containing black holes,
 and learn about the
 feedback of star formation on interacting binaries.

 The white dwarf binaries data will have a  significant
 impact in the search for the progenitors of type Ia
 supernovae (SNe Ia). We will assess the existence and frequency
 of other types of binary systems with a compact object, and
 obtain an optical variability database even for a large number of 
 different astrophysical objects.  Our project
will overlap in time with Swift,
XMM-Newton and Chandra monitoring observations of M31 and M33 
in the UV and X-ray, wavelength ranges in which
 close binaries are very luminous.  The UV/X-ray exposures
 will be available to us or to the community in general,
allowing us to derive several parameters of the physics
 of these transient objects.
 In addition the recently approved Multi-Cycle Treasury HST project on the North-East
 quadrant of M31, the same chosen by us, will yield superb reference images
at one epoch in several filters, including the UV, a range in which
 many cmpact binaries are luminous and crowding is dramatically reduced.  

 Among massive stars, $\beta$ Cepheids are very luminous objects
 but because of the long observations needed, 
they have not been studied well in external galaxies. The 
 metallicity dependence of these objects is not well known, yet
 they are powerful distance indicators because of their intrinsic
 luminosity.  Another important target are Be stars. They display large variability
 and flares that are still poorly studied, and are of interest also 
 to better understand high mass X-ray binaries.  

\bigskip
 
\subsection{Accreting systems}

\bigskip

 Close binaries undergoing mass transfer, especially white dwarf binaries,
 are the area of expertise of PI Orio,
 who has been specially involved
 with the search for candidate type Ia supernovae progenitors in M31,
 mainly using X-ray observations (Orio 2006, Nelson et al. 2009, Orio et al. 2010). 
 She currently also takes part in a project of spectroscopic classification
 of the M31 novae, done with the Asiago and TNG telescopes of INAF 
(Di Mille et al. 2009; see the numerous IAU Circulars and Astronomer's Telegrams by
 Di Mille et al. in the reference list).
In conjunction with this program, and
 with her X-ray monitoring of novae and supersoft X-ray
 sources in M31, Orio has carried out 
observations of selected areas of
M31 with WIYN and the current mini-MO imager (Orio 2006, Orio et al. 2010)
 which has already yielded deeper 
 and better photometric images than the Local Group Survey (see e.g. Fig. 3).  Fig.4
 shows a comparison of one of the quality of the of the images
 with the Local Group Survey done with the KPNO 4m telescope (Massey
 et al. 2006, 2007).
%
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\hbox{
\psfig{figure=msseyha.ps,width=7.2cm}
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}
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\vspace{-1.cm}
\caption{\footnotesize{A detail from one of the miniMO H$\alpha$ images,
 in a 0.8x0.95 arcmin area, is shown on
 the right while on the left we show the comparison with a public
 LGS image of the same region. The LGS image was obtained in a 5 minutes
 exposure at the 4m Kitt Peak telescope with the same filter we used.  
}}
\end{figure}
\bigskip
% 
Accreting systems can be studied in two states: in outburst and
 in quiescence. In outburst we will primarily obtain the light curves
 of novae and black-hole transients.

\bigskip

%
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\hbox{ \psfig{figure=PTFnovae.ps,height=8.5cm,width=15cm}}
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\vspace{ -1cm}
\caption{\small{The green squares are putative novae observed in external nearby galaxies
 by the FastTING team (courtesy of Shri Kulkarni and Mansi Kasliwal). The small green
 dots in the magnitude versus time for a 2 mag decay are the classical
 Galactic novae used to calibrate the Maximum magnitude Rate
of Decay Relationship (MMRD). Recurrent Galactic novae, occurring on massive white dwarf,
 and SNe Ia candidate progenitors,
 are represented with the blue stars and they are not known
 to obey this relationship. Also shown is M31N07-11d, a RN of M31, and
 the location of the luminous red variables. It seems
 that the FastTING is observing mostly RN - this may be because of the frequent
 sampling that does allows not to miss RN. For this reason we plan
observe M31 and M33 at least  as once a week.}}
\end{figure}
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\vspace{-1.cm}
\caption{\footnotesize {Chandra HRC-I images of the
 innermost center of M31 (1.5x1 arcmin) taken on
 December 2 of 2004 and on February 20 of 2005. The green circles show the
 X-ray (but also optical!)  transients, observed to change every week,
 and usually identified as classical, recurrent and black-hole novae.}}
\end{figure}

\bigskip

\noindent
   {\bf Classical and Recurrent Novae (RN) in outburst:}
   Extragalactic novae are the main tracers of
 interacting binary stars in general, and also of  the
 ``single degenerate'' progenitors of type Ia supernovae.
Because of a selection effect concerning the frequency
 of the outbursts on more massive
 WD, Novae  are
also excellent indicators of the star formation rate history of
      a galaxy: the outburst recurs more often in systems containing
high mass WD, so novae
 are expected to be more often observed if there has been
 recent star formation (Yungelson et al. 1997, Neill \& Shara 2004, 2005).

 Recently, several efforts have been made to measure
   the nova rate of M31, but they are based on small telescopes
   and small FOV (e.g. Darnley et al. 2006, Fliri et al. 2006,
 Heinze et al. 2008).
 Novae in our Galaxy appear to be mainly a bulge population,
 heavily effected by absorption. In contrast there is very little 
 intervening gas to the core of M31 and inside the core itself.
  The nova rate in M31, an Sb spiral (the most
 updated value seems to be 65 year$^{-1}$, Darnley et al. 2006),
  normalized to the luminosity,
 appears to be much higher than in M33, which is a Sc. The
 estimates for M33 vary between 2 and 5 year$^{-1}$ (Sharov 1993, Della
 Valle et al. 1994, Williams \& Shafter 2004). This difference has
 been interpreted as an indication that novae are mainly an old
 population and seems to be confirmed by our study of M31.
 However, the differences in nova rates are the subject of ongoing debate 
 (e.g. Della Valle et al. 1992, Matteucci et al. 2003) and the
 M31/M33 comparison is still 
 based on small number statistics for M33 (e.g. Williams \& Shafter, 2004)
 and small regions of the angular size of M31.

 While all authors have extrapolated the nova
   rate measured in small fields to
 all the different regions of galaxies with different metallicity and
 star formation history, we will measure precise rates over 
   a very large portion of both galaxies. Because we use a 3.5m telescope,
 we will also follow the nova light curves almost to minimum 
   and classify novae according to their light curve characteristics.
   In addition, spectral classification,  repeated even at different
 epochs, will be done for many novae of our sample, with WIYN and with the
   Galileo telescope of INAF, which is similar
 to WIYN, but offers medium and high resolution
   slit spectroscopy. Studying novae in more detail we will eliminate
   the 15-20\% spurious transients, interesting in their own right
   (many of them are black hole transients). Most important, we will also constrain
   the nova theory by indicating the rates of different types of novae,
including RN (novae that recur on the scale of a  human lifetime and
 are thought to occur on very massive white dwarfs). 
 One of the first results of an initial precursor of the
PTF survey, the FastTING (Fast Transients in Nearest galaxies) is that there may be many more
 T-Pyx type RNe (slow RNe) than previously thought, but they are missed
 in extragalactic surveys because they are not very luminous at maximum
 (see Fig. 5). This is an interesting possibility that we will certainly
 be able to explore for M31 and M33.

 Although part of our scientific goals can be achieved without 
 the U and H$\alpha$ filters (44cm in size, with a a cost of about \$80,000 each),
 these filters are very important for
 the success of this project, especially H$\alpha$.
 The UW Department of Astronomy and 
 the WIYN consortium have applied to US agencies to obtain them
 as soon as possible.  Optical transients, especially 
 classical and recurrent novae, are much brighter in H$\alpha$, and we
 will use the broad-band filters instead of an off-band filter to subtract the
 continuum level and resolve novae spatially even in most of the nucleus of 
 M31 and M33 and obtain precise positions (this is done routinely in extragalactic
nova searches). The U lightcurve is also of interest because both 
 the WD and the shell emit in UV (a fact known
 since the early studies of Gallagher \& Starrfield 1976, 1977; 
see also Orio et al. 2010 for results concerning specifically
 the novae in M31). 
%

\bigskip

\noindent   {\bf Black hole ``novae'' in outburst:}
   \noindent Thanks to regular
 X-ray monitoring, several X-ray transients every
   year are observed in M31 and M33.  About half of them are thought to host a black hole. These systems
 display a simultaneous optical outburst. but the eruption 
 occurrs without mass outflows and thus is very
    different spectroscopically from classical/recurrent novae
(e.g. Kuulkers, 1998).  The instability that triggers the 
 outbursts is thought to occur in an 
 advection dominated accretion disk (e.g.
 Meyer-Hofmeister \& Meyer, 1999) and  
 has very dramatic observational consequences, reaching Eddington
luminosity in X-rays and with a $\simeq$8 magnitudes amplitude (similar
 to RNe) at optical wavelengths.

 In the past, black hole
 binaries in eruption have often been mistaken for novae, although there are
 two ways of discriminating very clearly: 
 the X-ray observations (spectra and light curves are totally
different for recurrent novae), and the optical spectra (there are no
 P-Cygni profiles in black holes). By now, tens of candidate X-ray novae 
 have been observed in M31 (e.g. Williams et al. 2005, ApJ, 620, 723,
 and Fig. 6)
but without optical observations done around the same time  
 (only the very central core of M31 has often been monitored with HST),
 the information is not complete. 
   An accurate rate and classification of black hole transients in
   M31 and M33 is thus is an interesting and important goal. Even in the core
 of M31, where the black hole transients are most often observed,
 we should be able to use H$\alpha$ imaging like for classical
 and recurrent novae . 
 We are not able to aim at the HST resolution in the innermost
core, but unlike HST, we can monitor
 the objects over months to obtain the whole light curve.
Optical light curves and spectra (obtained with the WIYN Hydra
 or with the Galielo INAF telescope) will differentiate
black-hole transients from novae. However, in absence of spectra, a multi band lightcurve
 will provide much of the needed information.
%

\bigskip

\noindent {\bf The population of quiescent X-Ray Binaries (XRB):}
   About 2000 X-ray sources are known in M31, and 300 are known in M33.
   Out of 1460 sources observed with XMM-Newton, about 300 have been found
   to be variable (Pietsch et al.,
 in X-Ray Astronomy 2009, in press). Some of the observed M31 fields were not observed
   again, so the true number may even be much higher. 
 We estimate that with
   WIYN we can reach the optical magnitude of more than 30\% of the
 quiescent XRB, measuring even a significant number of orbital periods.
 This will offer a uniquely large sample that will tst evolutionary
 models for XRB in general and black hole transients in particular.
 This research overlaps with co-I Gallagher's involvement in studies
 of X-ray transients in E galaxies, which can provide X-ray statistics
 but no optical identifications (Brassington et al.
 2008, 2009).

 In addition, we want to be able to correlate X-ray and optical
 variability.
   Optical monitoring of all XRB detected in M31 and M33 (low mass XRB
   in outburst, sometimes
 in quiescence,  and high mass XRB in quiescence) is extremely
 interesting. We will be able to
   measure the orbital periods of more than half known HMXB in our fields 
   and compare them with the Galactic and Magellanic Clouds
   population of HMXB, investigating the effect of metallicity
on the formation and evolution of these systems.
\bigskip

\noindent {\bf Supersoft X-ray Sources (quiescent, or during flares):}
   \noindent Supersoft X-ray Sources (SSS) is a phenomenological
 definition of a class of X-ray sources that include
   hot, accreting and hydrogen burning white dwarfs in binaries
  which are a major research focus for PI Orio.
 SSS are extremely luminous (in the range 10$^{36-38}$ erg/s, 
 thus reaching the Eddington
 luminosity of a 1 M$_\odot$ star), but the emission is peaked
 in the very soft X-rays or extreme UV, which are easily
 absorbed. For this reason, the bulk of
 SSS are observed in external, nearby galaxies (even outside the
 Local Group) in directions of low N(H).
SSS  show amazing properties, including X-ray flux variability
 on time scales of minutes or hours
 (orbital, white dwarf spin and probably non-radial pulsations) 
studied even   at M31 distance (see Fig.6).
 We know that about
 50\% of SSS are post-outburst novae and recurrent novae, and 20\% to 35\% 
 turn out to be other types of accreting
 and shell hydrogen burning white dwarfs in
   binaries (see Greiner 2000, Orio 2006 and Fig. 5, from Orio et al. 2010). 

Both the frequently erupting recurrent novae and the 
non-novae SSS are  very
 interesting as type Ia SN progenitors. At quiescence,
 at the distance of M31 the luminosity of non-novae SSS may vary
 and have average  magnitudes anywhere
 between 18th and 27th, ranging from symbiotics hosting a luminous AGB star to nova-like,
 short period systems.
 In addition, SSS repeatedly observed in X-rays have
 been only very sparsely observed in the optical, and their X-ray
 flares have not been followed optically. We are left wondering
 whether  the large X-ray variability is due to cooling of
 the envelope (corresponding to a brightening in optical, anticorrelated
 to the X-rays) or to a small scale thermonuclear flashes without
 mass ejection (X-rays and optical luminosity would be correlated). 
Understanding flare modes has important implications
 for the WD mass evolution, and thus is connected with the SNe Ia
 progenitor problem.

 Tens of SSS are discovered n M31 every year. 
 A large fraction of the optical counterparts of
 quiescent SSS is sufficiently bright to be observable with WIYN.
 The relationship between 
   the variations of optical versus X-ray luminosity is essential to
   constrain the theory: M31 is regularly monitored in
 X-rays over large fields, but the optical light curve is missing
at present. The {\it Living Galaxy}
 will allow us to understand whether thermonuclear burning proceeds at a 
constant rate and the system is on a path towards
 a SN Ia.  Orio is a co-I in some of the X-ray monitoring programs of M31 
  and M33, which are likely to be continued by 
 the Chandra and XMM-Newton observatories into the ODI era.
The SSS that  were re-observed in X-rays turned out to be
  persistent, transient or recurrent X-ray sources.

 Making use of X-ray, UV and optical images, in Nelson's 2009
 PhD hesis at the UW we found that SSS either
 associated with old populations, or with star forming regions and OB optical
 counterparts. The latter are possibly Be+white dwarf systems, and in fact
  a classification as high mass XRB (HMXB) has been suggested by us
 (Orio et al. 2010, yellow and orange stripes in the Fig. 5 histogram).
 If we can prove that they are HMXB, they would explain the time dependent,
 star formation dependent component in the type Ia SNe
 rate.  We do need optical lightcurves for a more complete characterization.  
 
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=3in]{f1Nb.ps}
\vspace{-1.cm}
\caption{\footnotesize{The distribution of SSS in M31 
 (Orio et al. 2010, submitted to ApJ) in different groups: classical
 and recurrent novae after an optical outburst, supernova remnants, AGN, 
 still unclassified objects observed multiple times, or observed only
 once.  The unidentified SSS are either 
 associated with old populations, or with star forming regions and OB optical
 counterparts (yellow and orange stripe).
 The sources that were re-observed in X-rays turned out to be
  persistent (few), transient or recurrent (most).}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
% 
\begin{figure*}
\begin{center}
\subfigure{\includegraphics[width=2.3in]{f3a.ps}}
\hskip 3cm
\subfigure{\includegraphics[width=2.3in]{f3b.ps}}
\caption{\footnotesize{Today stellar astronomy is also extragalactic.
 The X-ray  light curves of two supersoft X-ray sources in M31 that
 show different periodicities in X-rays: r2-12 (left) of 217 seconds,
 18 minutes for Nova 2009 12-b (right). We show these results  
 to demonstrate that variable stars in M31 can be
  more closely studied that we tend to think.}}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}
%    

\bigskip

\noindent   {\bf Symbiotics:}
   \noindent In these binaries a cool star (a red giant) has a hot companion 
   (usually a compact object, mainly a white dwarf), often surrounded
 by a nebula. When there is
 a WD, shell H burning often occurs. As mentioned above, there is an overlap
 between symbiotics and SSS. There is also an overlap between symbiotics
 and recurrent novae, since symbiotics at times undergo thermonuclear flashes.
   The compact object accretes material through a wind or even an accretion
   disk. Some symbiotics are likely to end type Ia SN progenitor
 (Hachisu et al., 2008).  The statistics, and
 when possible, determination of the physical parameters of a 
 symbiotics will allow to
   constrain the evolution of these systems and make progress in the
   study of type Ia SN progenitors. No symbiotics have
 been observed and studied yet in M31 and M33, although 
the discovery of a symbiotic in IC 10 at a $\simeq$700 kpc
 distance (Fig. 7, see Goncalves et al.
 2008 for details) proves how feasible it is to find extragalactic
 symbiotics with H$\alpha$ imaging and spectroscopic follow-up with 
a mid-size telescope. We will monitor and measure
   the orbital periods of these systems, and we may even witness some outbursts and
   obtain indications of other variable outflows.
%
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=4in]{ICsymbio.ps}
  \caption{\footnotesize{The optical spectrum of the symbiotic star StSy-1 in IC 10, a 
dwarf irregular and starburst satellite of M31, taken with
 two gratings and the CMOS-N detector at Gemini North, and comparison
 with the observed spectrum of the Galactic symbiotic Hen 2-147. See
 Goncalves et al. 2008 for details.} }
\end{center}
\end{figure}

\bigskip

\subsection{Massive stars: a comprehensive picture }

\noindent Reaching optical magnitude $\simeq$23.5 or slightly higher with
 reasonable completeness, we should have a complete picture of
 stars down to absolute magnitude $\simeq$-1. In addition, summed images (at different
 epochs, renouncing the information on variabilty) will allow us to
 reach 2  magnitudes below this level in low stellar density
 regions. 

\bigskip

\noindent The main sequence {\bf B stars}
 cover the stellar mass range responsible for most of
 the UV light and element production from SNe II in galaxies.
Understanding the peculiarities among B stars, and especially the emission
 line {\bf B-e stars}, is thus very important. 
 25-50\% of  Be stars go unobserved in optical  
 surveys because their disks are not permanent and have very variable structure.
(Mc Swain et al. 2008, 2009).
Hubert \& Floquet (1998) examined the Hipparcos sample
 of Be stars and found that early-type Be exhibit a very high degree of variability.
 They also identified 14 Be stars with recurrent short-lived outbursts
 (0.06$\leq \Delta \mathrm{mag},\leq$ 0.3  over timescales of 50-500 days)
 and 8 with long-lived outbursts ($\Delta$mag $\geq$ 0.12  over timescales of $>$500 days)
 in the sample.
 The H$\alpha$ band is better suited to measuring variations in the disks of Be stars of all spectral types.
 Mc Swain et al. (2008) discovered a new Be star (130) in NGC 3766
 whose H$\alpha$ line not only changed
 in intensity, but the emission lines became absorption lines over a 4 years
period, indicating that the star had an absorption disk that disappeared within 
one year. 
 We will also explore the large
 variability detected in a fraction of Be stars, which is still not well
 understood. In a study on Be variability in an open cluster, Mc Swain et al.
 (2009) found no significant physical difference between variable and non-variable
 Be stars. Understanding variability patterns in Be stars populations opens the
way for better modeling of angular momentum transport
and its impact on mass loss for a key stellar mass range.

%
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=4in]{v838.ps}
\caption{The HST-ACS image of the light echo of V838 Mon, at a distance
 of about 10 kpc. We know only one such object in M31...
 how many more of them wait to be discovered?}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
%

\bigskip

\noindent {\bf $\beta$ Cepheids} are massive O and B stars
with sinusoidal light variations
 with periods ranging from 0.1 to 0.7 days, with amplitudes
   from 0.1 to 0.3 mag. A sub-type displays even smaller
   amplitude. Spectral types are B0 to B3, which makes
 them important for our study of the structures of B stars.
 The pulsations correspond to a stage at the end
 of core H burning, caused by bound-bound transitions
 of iron group elements, and extremely
 dependent on the metallicity. Mapping the Beta Ceph instability
   strip is an important goal to understand the
 final phases of evolution of massive stars. This has been attempted
 only for the Magellanic Clouds (Sterken \& Jerzykiewics, 1988,
 Pigulski \& Kolaczkowski, 2002), because long periods
   of observations are needed, and sometimes even spectroscopic
   follow-up  to weed out objects that mimic the beta Ceph behaviour.
\\

\noindent {\bf ``V838 Mon'' type of objects:}
   \noindent Beautiful HST images illustrate 
 the optical echo of V838 Mon (see Fig. 8), but the nature of this
 object is really still elusive. Almost certainly this phenomenon is
  an eruptive stage in advanced high mass
 binary stellar evolution, but it is still a matter of intense debate
 and study.  A similar eruption was already observed
 once in M31 (see Bond \& Siegel 2006 and references
 therein). Many peculiar variables of this type
 are probably mistaken for classical 
 novae, because of infrequent monitoring and lack of identified
 quiescent counterparts, but by closely following the light curves of
 many variables M31 and M33, since the light curve 
 really is very different in novae and in V838 Mon type variables, we will
 select candidate  optical transients of this type and find out
 whether they have a binary star with a massive component as 
 quiescent counterpart. 

\bigskip

\subsection{A large data base that will also be  precious for...}

\noindent {\bf Microlensing studies}.
Since the original proposal of Paczynski (1986),
microlensing is an established tool of research
for the detection of compact halo object (MACHOs), a possible
dark matter component of galactic halos.
Several microlensing campaigns have been undertaken
in the last 20 years towards the Galactic centre and the Magellanic Clouds
(e.g. Moniez, 2010) and towards M31 (e.g. Calchi Novati, 2010).
In particular, towards M31, observational campaigns
have been carried out by several collaborations, among
which are AGAPE and follow-ups (Ansari et al 1999, Calchi Novati et al. 
2005, 2009), WeCAPP (Riffeser et al 2006, 2008), MEGA (de Jong 2006).
 In addition to offering a database for M31,
our survey will be a {\it unique} resource for microlensing
 studies in M33.
 These surveys were carried out with smaller telescopes and field
 of views than WIYN with ODI. Incidentally,
 they are useful for
 our variability study because they offer a long term basis to compare a number 
of our variables. However, as for the MACHO surveys, 
all the microlensing results are still controversial. Our survey
 should offer new, high quality material for these studies. co-I Calchi Novati is
 PI of the PLAN collaboration, and is enthusiastic at
 the idea of becoming our link to
 ensure that our database is exploited properly for microlensing searches. 

\bigskip

\noindent
{\bf Cepheids: } There have been recent attempts to better
 determine the distance
 to M31 and M33 through the Cepheids (Vilardell et al. 2008), but 
 the dependence of the Cepheids lightcurve on metallicity still 
 needs improvement. This is of course a fundamental problem in astronomy,
 and one  to which our data will contribute essential information. 

\bigskip

\noindent
 {\bf Eclipsing binaries:} We will obtain excellent light curves
 of the most luminous eclipsing binaries of M31 and M33, to be used
 to refine distance determinations (e.g. Todd et al. 2005, Vilardell et al.
 2006). Since this will be carried out with the same data sets used
 for the Cepheids, it will allow an accurate intercomparison of
 the derived distances without uncertainties for
photometric calibrations.  

\bigskip

\noindent {\bf The deepest H$\alpha$ images of M31 and M33.} 
 Fig. 9 shows a beautiful image of one of the M31 fields imaged by Gallagher 
 with WIYN and Mini-MO. Fig.2 illustrates the comparison with 4m NOAO
 telescope and the LGS. Although the {\it Living Galaxy}
 has many components that can be done with broad band filters,
 H$\alpha$ is the most interesting in many respects. It will be essential
 for a quick and precise recognition of recurrent and classical
 novae and it will allow to map virtually all symbiotics in the
 rich population of Andromeda and the Triangulum. 
 Wide field deep images in this filter also open
 up a series of possibilities that go beyond our original goals. 
%
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\hbox{\psfig{figure=jay1-h.ps,width=7.7cm}
\hskip 0.1cm
\psfig{figure=jay1-R.ps,width=7.7cm}}
\end{center}
\vspace{ -1cm}
\caption{\small{A field of M31 imaged in H$\alpha$ by Gallagher
with the WIYN Mini-Mosaic in a 15 minutes exposure. 
The H$\alpha$ image after subtraction of the normalized R image
 is shown on the left, and the original R image
 is on the right.
The R-image subtraction procedure allows faint structures
 to be resolved in detail.}}
\end{figure}
%

\bigskip

\begin{table}[t]
 \[
 \begin{array}{|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline
$Class of sources$ &  $Time scales$  & $Cadence$ &  $Variation amplitude$        & $Filters$ \\
\hline
                   &                 &           &                               &                   \\
$Classical novae$  & 1 $ year$           & $weekly$  & 8-17 $ mag (steady decrease)$   & g, r, i, $H$\alpha \\
                   &                     & $monthly$ &                              &    $U$            \\
                   &                     &           &                              &                 \\
$Recurrent novae$  & 2-9$ months$        & $weekly$  & 8 $ mag (steady decrease)$      & g, r, i, $H$\alpha \\
                   &                     & $monthly$ &                                &  $U$                 \\
                   &                     &           &                                &                    \\
$Symbiotics$       &  <6 $ months$       & $weekly$  & 8-10 $ mag$                     &  g, r, i, $H$\alpha \\
$(in outburst)$    &                     & $monthly$ &                                &  $U$                  \\
$Symbiotics$       & 1-5 $ years$         & $monthly$ & 0.1 $ mag (oscillation)$        & g, r, i \\
$(quiescent)$      &                     &           & \geq 0.1 $ mag (orbital)$       & r, i     \\                                    &                     &           &                                &      \\
$SSS (bright phases)$ & 1-3 $ months$     & $weekly$  & \geq 0.05 $(irregular)$        & g, $U, H$\alpha \\                               &                   &           &                                &      \\
$Microquasars$     & 2-8 $ months$        & $weekly$  & 7-8 $ mag$                     & g, r, i, $H$\alpha \\
                   &                     &           &                               &         \\
 \beta $ cepheids$  & 2-17 $ hours$        & $daily for$ >4 $ hours$ & \geq 0.1 $mag (pulsation)$ & g, r, i \\
                   &                     &           &                               &         \\
$Microlenses$      & 1-21 $ days$         & $daily$   & \geq 0.05 $(oscillation)$    & g, r \\
                   &                     &           &                               &      \\
$LPV$              & > 80 $ days$         & $bi-monthly$ & \geq 2.5 $(orbital)$       & g, r, i \\
$LPV (blue)$       & $ few days$          & $daily$   & \geq 0.05 $(orbital)$         & g, i \\
                   &                     &           &                             &          \\
$Be stars$        &  > 50 $ days$        & $monthly$ & \geq 0.05                   & g, r, $H$\alpha \\
                   & > 500 $ days$        & $bi-monthly$  & \geq 0.12               & g, r, $H$\alpha \\
                   &                     &           &                             &                     \\
$HMXB$             & 1-3 $ years$         & $monthly$ &  \geq 0.1 $ mag (orbital)$ &  g, $U$    \\
                   &                   &         &                          &      \\
$Cepheids$         & 5-200$ days$      & $once$/2 $days$ & \geq 0.2 $ mag (pulsation)$ & g, i \\
                 &                   &             &                         &      \\
\hline
         \end{array}
   \]
tion{Types of variability of the major classes of variable systems and events we will observe,
 variability timescales and useful filters}
\end{table}

\section{The cadence of monitoring: one program for many purposes}

 As Table 1 shows, planning the cadence of the observation presents some 
 challenges because we do want to obtain useful data to study
 a variety of phenomena, including: a) long period
 variables like symbiotics,
 Miras, etc. with oscillations on time scales of years, b) variability of
 massive stars and microlensing events on timescales ranging to hours
 to many days, c) eruptive variables with large outbursts and flares that
occur over many months but need to be followed at least weekly for 
 classification purposes. Because the same objects however can have
 different time scales, and we may also discover whole new sets of
 phenomena over different time scales, we have decided that it 
is very important to have series of differently spaced
 exposures during the year.

 The cadence scheme to achieve our scientific
 goals must also fit into the needs of telescope scheduling. The University
 of Wisconsin will have at most five consecutive nights when M31 and M33
 are at low airmass.
 Around this time of the year the weather can also be very variable,
 and seeing is also not excellent for the whole night.
 Our plan is therefore
 to observe M31 and M33 all night for only 2-3 consecutive whole nights,
 but we will also ask to be allowed to use 
 5-8 {\it half} nights during the period of longer visibility of the galaxies.
 We will ask that also the half nights are scheduled
 as consecutively,  or closely spaced, as possible. During the
 rest of the year,  our analysis of Table 1 indicates that 
 about 1-2 hours of observing
 time per week would be optimal.
 We expected a  S/N=10 for 23rd mag with an exposure time of ..
 in ... filters respectively. 

 In order to plan the total exposure time we request,
we have to take into account the length of the H$\alpha$ observations,
 with an exposure time of about 15 minutes.
Because of the many gaps in the ODI camera, the
 optimal strategy is to dither each exposure - with 8 short dithered
 images. We will decide how often we plan
 to dither the images once some of the characteristics of the instrument
 are better known. At the moment the overhead time is not exactly known, but 
 obviously with 8 images per exposure, the total overhead 
can be expensive and has to be accounted for, 
to achieve the best possible planning. 
 We know that we will need about 30 seconds for acquisition, and {\it possibly}
 even almost a minute of total time for each
 move, depending on some characteristics of the
 electronics, reaching a total 8 minutes of overhead time
 for each set of dithered observation.

 With the dithering and overheads,
 the short (1-5 minutes)
 broad band exposure will be relatively time consuming, and need to
 be planned accurately, probably renouncing the dithering for
 part of the nights. Our co-I Daniel Harbeck at WIYN is the
ODI Project Scientist, and with him we will refine the
 strategy to adopt during the verification phase of the instrument.

   We are currently exploring also possible improvements
to the plan to obtain the cadence to maximize the science
in case of missed observations due to weather and technical
 problems. The other big question concerns the mode in which
 the observations will be done.  At this time there is no general users'
 queue set up yet for the use of ODI. During the Wisconsin nights,
 we will be able to share many nights with the other survey that
 is being planned and with other observers. However,
 we suggest that the UW would 
 benefit from buying time from the queue of the Yale University for
 the Yale survey. Another possibility we are exploring is 
 remote observing, already set up from Wisconsin for other WIYN instruments.  
  
   {\it Weekly monitoring,
 whenever possible, in at least two filters for $\simeq$7 months a
 year is an essential component of 
 our project, a winning  strategy for many goals}.
The two flters are necessary to distinuish source
 classes. If we go back to Fig.3, from
 the PTF, we find out that we need a weekly cadence to be able to
 detect novae, recurrent novae and other transients that are the most 
 interesting to us: high mass white dwarfs, possibly on the path
 to SNe Ia explosions (the amplitude and speed class of the thermonuclear
 outburst is inversely proportional to the mass) and of course
 black-hole transients. {\it Thus, for the success
 of this project a strategy should be in place for some
 mode of queue or remote observing that allows repeating short 
observations for many nights during the year}. 

\section{Photometric references for M31 and M33}
 
 Both M31 and M33 have been fully photomered with great precision in
 the Local Group Survey (Massey et al. 2006). The M31 population has been also
 measured in the Sloan Survey. We will thus have a fixed
 epoch reference obtained a few years before
the {\it Living Galaxy}, and we will be able to judge the
 quality of our photometry and improve it, when and if necessary.  

 There is one more important project that is relevant to us and this
 is the large Panchromatic Survey of M31 planned as an HST Treasury project.
In the area covered by HST,
 the spatial resolution and the quality of the HST images will be
 invaluable for the variability study of our WIYN exposures,
because they will give us a high resolutin template which
 will allow us to deconvolve WIYN images when
 variables are found in crowded regions.

The Hubble Panchromatic Survey includes
 ultraviolet filters. The ultraviolet images of this
 survey, when they become
 public, will be a powerful identification of the existence
 and precise position of variable sources in fields where even
 a circle with a radius of one arcsecond
 is too crowded to sort out the right optical counterpart of SSS and
 some other types of XRB, or even when the source is too faint
 for detection with other filters. Once we know the existence of
 a counterpart that we think will show orbital variability,
 even a method like pixel imaging with ODI will give the necessary information
 with optical filters.  

\section{A scientific niche for ODI: Comparison with other survey instruments}

 Although very wide field imagers are becoming more common, 
 ODI at
 WIYN is a very competitive survey instrument in the Northern
 hemisphere. It is uniquely suited for a monitoring survey like the one
 we are proposing.
   Most wide field imagers are still of the class of 30x30 arcmin$^2$,
 so we will use 1/4th of the telescope to image the same field.
If we have a close look at the ``competition',
   in the Northern hemisphere, a comparable set of telescope+instrument
   is CFHT (Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope) with MegaCam. The 
best angular
   resolution is poorer than ours and only an instrument with a reduced FOV
   H$\alpha$ filter (42x28 arcmin$^2$ FOV) is available.

 Here we should mention that another type of monitoring survey,
 with a  small-telescope and a very large field,
 is currently done by the team of the Palomar
 Transient Survey (PTF) with the 1.2m Palomar telescope
 and an 8 square degree imager, supported by the 1.5m
 telescope for some light curve measurement (Law et al. 2009). The
PTF cannot resolve transients anywhere near the centers of galaxies,
 and does not use H$\alpha$ filters, but we intend to collaborate with the
 PTF team to study some strategies to make our project more
 effective (see discussion in Section 4.2 and related
and Fig. 5). Specifically to achieve the best plan for the
 cadence of our observations (Section 5).

   The Subaru team
 is building Hyper-Suprime Cam, which will have an H$\alpha$
   filter, but an 8m telescope is dedicated mostly to distant
 object and cosmology and is not expected to be a monitoring survey
 instrument.  Telescopes dedicated to surveys will
be effective to study optical transients and variability in external galaxies, thus
 our competition will come primarily  from
   Pan-Starrs, that also uses Orthogonal Transfer CCD's and
 eventually will be pointing 
   with 4 telescopes at a 7 degrees$^2$ FOV. However,
   the Pan-Starrs collaboration
does not plan to use an H$\alpha$ filter, and at present
  the limiting magnitude of
   their survey (for given S/N and length of exposure) is 1.5 mag
   shallower than what we can and plan to achieve with WIYN,
   a really crucial limit for some
of the populations we want to study at M31/M33 distance.
 Furthermore, it seems unlikely that Pan-Starrs can achieve image
 quality of $\leq$0.8 arcsec.

 In the South LSST (the Large
   Synoptic Survey Telescope) will be much more
 effective than WIYN in terms of etendue (FOV x collecting area area)
   starting in 2016 or 2017.  The
 information that will be obtained by LSST on the variable stars of
 the Magellanic Clouds and other nearby galaxies' populations
(e.g. IC 101, NGC 6822)
 will be an invaluable comparison, making our project
 even more interesting.


\section{Data management and analysis}

 
  After the first level of reduction, the one provided on site
by the University
 of Indiana ODI data center, the first analysis of 
the {\it Living Galaxy} images will be set up by 
 a post-doctoral collaborator we would
 like to hire, possibly in common with the ODISSE project. 
  Co-I Calchi Novati will provide guidance, having large experience
 in the microlensing projects, especially  with 
 {\it pixel imaging software}.
 Another type of package we may want to use is the {\it Difference Image Analysis}
 (DIA) software. 
 Both types of software allow to detect variability down to low levels 
 even in non resolved images
 (e.g. the 5 inner arcminutes from the center of M31 and about 3 from
 the center of M33, regions that appear flooded with diffuse light in the WIYN exposures).  
 In the respect of copy-rights of the microlensing software, we plan 
 to train the post-doc to use this type of software and analyze all the images
 as they are obtained. This will allow us to detect and locate
 variablity as well as measure
 accurate photometry in ``stamp like'' sub images around the
 variables. Only in the most crowded core areas of few arcminutes
 accurate photometry will not be done, but there will be
 some spatial resolution and some measurements in our H$\alpha$ images.

   Full photometric pipelines will be done later, to set up a
 {\it Living Galaxy} archive in the future. We have also contacted a colleague 
 at Padova who has worked with the Terapix collaboration, and are
 already exploring  optimal ways this can be done. The Terapix
 group provides imaging and pipeline processing software to the CFHT MegaCAM 
 and their (available)  WiFIX software is of course of interest also for
 ODI.

\section {The spectroscopic follow-up}

 Spectroscopic identification and follow-up will be an important
 part of the {\it Living Galaxy}, especially for transients and
 for the identification of new symbiotics (see Fig. 9).
The Hydra spectrograph of WIYN will be available
  to us, making a large part of this project self-sufficient
 without relying heavily on external facilities.
 In addition we will apply for time on
 the Padova-Asiago 1.2m and 1.8m telescopes
 and on the TNG-INAF 3.5m telescope and the SARG spectrograph.
 The INAF Galileo telescope is very similar and yet very
 complementary to WIYN - with a smaller field
 of view, it offers a high efficiency spectrograph. The
 magnitude of novae in outburst in M31 is in the V=15-18 range,
 and TNG can follow them spectroscopically even repeatedly during the
 early weeks/months of the decline.   We intend to develop a  
 collaborative spectral follow-up program and make it part of the {\it Living Galaxy}. 
 Our co-I's from Padova, already engaged in spectroscopic survey of M31/M33 novae,
 are leading experts in the of spectroscopy of novae and also of symbiotics,
 key components of the {\it Living Galaxy}.

 Spectral are critical for 
assessing the physical nature of the transients. 
For example, Di Mille et al. (2010a and b) have already been able to weed out
 a spurious object (a WZ Sge variable in the M31
 foreground) using their first collection of nova spectra.
 Much of the spectroscopic nova project is based on 
 the behavior of Galactic and LMC  novae  described by Williams (1992).
Williams classified novae near visual maximum in two spectroscopic classes,
determined by the relative strength of the non Balmer lines of Fe II, He, and N.
 Novae with FeII lines show a lower level of ionization and P Cygni profiles.
 Novae with strong He/N lines show a higher level of ionization and the lines are mostly
flat-topped. Following this classification, Della  Valle \& Livio (1998) found that  He/N novae
  tend to concentrate close to the Galactic plane and are fast and bright,
 while Fe II novae are slow and faint and are distributed up to $z \sim 1000$ pc  and beyond.
 No RNe have been observed to belong to the Fe II class.
 Recently Di Mille et al. (2010) used   spectra
 in the literature  and new observations obtained at Asiago and at TNG
 (Fig. 10, 11) to analyse the spatial distribution of the different classes of objects in M31 .
 Their results do not show a striking difference between the distribution
 of  He/N an FeII novae but they stressed that to correctly weight statistical
 biases a complete spectroscopic classification  of a much larger
 number of the M31 and M33 novae 
 is very important to constrain the theory.

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\includegraphics[width=10 cm]{nm31-2008-10b_26102008.fits.eps}
\caption{TNG spectra of nova NM31-2008-10b at different epochs}
\end{figure}
%
\begin{figure}[!hb]
\caption{NM31 2007-11c spectra at Asiago Observatory}
\includegraphics[width=10 cm]{s1.0001.fits.eps}
% s1.0001.fits.eps: 577x577 pixel, 72dpi, 20.36x20.36 cm, bb=
\label{fig:2007-11c}
\end{figure}


\section{Collaborators}
In addition to co-PI Townsend, our
 coI's among faculty members at Wisconsin are Professors Jay Gallagher
 (stellar populations and galaxies) and Sebastian Heinz (black holes and compact objects
 in general). A co-I in the project is Dr. Daniel Harbeck, ODI
 Project Scientist. Dr. Patricia Knezek has expressed interest. 
 Several other INAF colleagues of Orio are interested in collaborating with 
the {\it Living Galaxy} in the areas of their expertise.

 We already have several Italian collaborators associated with the the Italian
 Institute of Astrophysics (INAF): Drs. Iijima and Siviero (INAF Padova),
 Dr. Calchi Novati (Salerno University), Dr. Di Mille (Magellan
 Telescope and Padova University), Profs.
 Bianchini, Ciroi, and Rafanelli (Padova University). 
Letters of interest have also been received from Dr. Ginevra Trinchieri
 (INAF-Milano, XRB populations in external galaxies), Dr. Domitilla
 de Martino and Dr. Massimo Della Valle (INAF-Napoli, cataclysmic variables,
 novae outbursts, black hole candidates), and Drs. Ulisse Munari(INAF-Padova,
 symbiotic stars and novae). The research team of Prof. Scarpetta with which 
 Calchi Novati works in Salerno has expressed interested in 
 in studying the microlensing events in our exposures, on
 behalf of the PLAN microlensing international collaboration.    
In parallel we expect to also have collaborators from the
 massive stars and be star communities, and we will develop these
 links once the timeline and ODI capacities
 become clearer.
 
\section{Time line}
 During the science verification phase of ODI we will analyse
 technical and organizational problems that are difficult to solve 
 before having access to the data in their final format. 
 We still cannot take into account
 exact overhead times, which may be as short as the
 30 s acquisition time if the telescope can move without
 significant electronic noise, or almost twice as long. This will 
have impact on how many dithered images we will decide to obtain.
 We will also learn how to use the variability software on the ODI images
 and continue the
 collaboration with the Padova Astronomy Department on the M31 and
 M33 nova spectra, already before many new novae are discovered by ODI,
as a scientific foundation for interpreting results from the
 nova database we will acquire.

 As soon as ODI is fully operational we plan to analyse the
 data to obtain rates of novae, recurrent novae and transients with
 black hole candidates. Already after the first
 year we would like to  publish some ``early science'': rates of these
 three types of events, especially the nova rate, 
 with a spectroscopic library of support for classification.   
 
  One of our first goals is also to identify symbiotics
for the first time in M31 and M33, which
 can be spectroscopically distinguished from planetary nebulae,
 and obtain a picture of the M31 and M33 symbiotics population,
 which then we can compare with the type Ia supernova rate.

   We plan this survey as a five years project. Three years is the
 minimum length of time we think we need to achieve completeness
 in some areas of this research, such as the study of transient Be
 stars, and microlensing candidates, which must be distinguished from the
 other eruptive variables.

 Initial requests of funding for a preliminary phase of accurate
 preparation have been submitted to NSF in the context of a general
 proposal on X-ray binaries, and to INAF on the side of the Italian
 collaboration. We are aware that the {\it Living Galaxies} will
 require the dedicated work of a post-doctoral scientist, and hope
 to obtain some funding to  hire such a precious collaborator.
 
 We would like to stress that early acquisition of an H$\alpha$
filter, and definition of a queue or remote observing mode
 to obtain weekly monitoring observations, are essential for
 the success of the project.
 
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\end{document}
