No Arabic abstract
Void galaxies, residing within the deepest underdensities of the Cosmic Web, present an ideal population for the study of galaxy formation and evolution in an environment undisturbed by the complex processes modifying galaxies in clusters and groups, as well as provide an observational test for theories of cosmological structure formation. We have completed a pilot survey for the HI imaging aspects of a new Void Galaxy Survey (VGS), imaging 15 void galaxies in HI in local (d < 100 Mpc) voids. HI masses range from 3.5 x 10^8 to 3.8 x 10^9 M_sun, with one nondetection with an upper limit of 2.1 x 10^8 M_sun. Our galaxies were selected using a structural and geometric technique to produce a sample that is purely environmentally selected and uniformly represents the void galaxy population. In addition, we use a powerful new backend of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope that allows us to probe a large volume around each targeted galaxy, simultaneously providing an environmentally constrained sample of fore- and background control sample of galaxies while still resolving individual galaxy kinematics and detecting faint companions in HI. This small sample makes up a surprisingly interesting collection of perturbed and interacting galaxies, all with small stellar disks. Four galaxies have significantly perturbed HI disks, five have previously unidentified companions at distances ranging from 50 to 200 kpc, two are in interacting systems, and one was found to have a polar HI disk. Our initial findings suggest void galaxies are a gas-rich, dynamic population which present evidence of ongoing gas accretion, major and minor interactions, and filamentary alignment despite the surrounding underdense environment.
We have completed a pilot survey imaging 15 SDSS selected void galaxies in HI in local (d=50 to 100 Mpc) voids. This small sample makes up a surprisingly interesting collection of galaxies, consisting of galaxies with asymmetric and perturbed HI disks, previously unidentified companions, and ongoing interactions. One was found to have a polar HI disk with no stellar counterpart. While our small number statistics so far are limiting, results support past findings that most void galaxies are typically late type galaxies with gas rich disks and small scale clustering similar to field galaxies despite their large scale underdense environment.
We have carefully selected a sample of 60 galaxies that reside in the deepest underdensities of geometrically identified voids within the SDSS. HI imaging of 55 galaxies with the WSRT reveals morphological and kinematic signatures of ongoing interactions and gas accretion. We probe a total volume of 485 Mpc^3 within the voids, with an angular resolution of 8 kpc at an average distance of 85 Mpc. We reach column density sensitivities of 5 x 10^19 cm^-2, corresponding to an HI mass limit of 3 x 10^8 M_sun. We detect HI in 41 galaxies, with total masses ranging from 1.7 x 10^8 to 5.5 x 10^9 M_sun. The upper limits on the 14 non-detections are not inconsistent with their luminosities, given their expected HI mass to light ratios. We find that the void galaxies are generally gas rich, low luminosity, blue disk galaxies, with optical and HI properties that are not unusual for their luminosity and morphology. The sample spans a range of absolute magnitudes (-16.1 > M_r > -20.4) and colors (0.06 < g-r < 0.87), and includes disk and irregular galaxies. We also identify three as early type galaxies, all of which are not detected in HI. All galaxies have stellar masses less than 3 x 10^10 M_sun, and many have kinematic and morphological signs of ongoing gas accretion, suggesting that the void galaxy population is still in the process of assembling. The small scale clustering in the void, within 600 kpc and 200 km/s, is similar to that in higher density regions, and we identify 18 HI rich neighboring galaxies in the voids. Most are within 100 kpc and 100 km/s of the targeted galaxy, and we find no significant population of HI rich low luminosity galaxies filling the voids, contrary to what is predicted by simulations.
The evolution of galaxies is influenced by the environment in which they reside. This effect should be strongest for the least-mass and -luminosity galaxies. To study dwarf galaxies in extremely low density environments we have compiled a deep catalogue of dwarf galaxies in the nearby Lynx-Cancer void. This void hosts some of the most metal-poor dwarfs known to date. It borders the Local Volume at the negative supergalactic Z (SGZ) coordinates and has the size of more than 16 Mpc. With a distance to its centre of only 18 Mpc it is close enough to allow the search for the faintest dwarfs. Within the void 75 dwarf (-11.9 > M_B > -18.0) and 4 subluminous (-18.0 > M_B > -18.4) galaxies have been identified. We present the parameters of the void galaxies and give a detailed analysis of the completeness of the catalogue as a function of magnitude and surface brightness. The catalogue appears almost complete to M_B < -14 mag, but misses part of the fainter low surface brightness (LSB) face-on galaxies. This sample of void galaxies builds the basis of forthcoming observational studies that will give insight into the main stellar population, HI-mass-to-light ratio, metallicity and age for comparison with dwarfs in higher density regions. We briefly summarize the information on the unusual objects in the void and conclude that their concentration hints that voids are environments that are favourable for finding and studying unevolved dwarf galaxies.
Does the void environment have a sizable effect on the evolution of dwarf galaxies? If yes, the best probes should be the most fragile least massive dwarfs. We compiled a sample of about one hundred dwarfs with M_B in the range -12 to -18 mag, falling within the nearby Lynx-Cancer void. The goal is to study their evolutionary parameters -- gas metallicity and gas mass-fraction, and to address the epoch of the first substantial episode of Star Formation. Here we present and discuss the results of O/H measurements in 38 void galaxies, among which several the most metal-poor galaxies are found with the oxygen abundances of 12+log(O/H)=7.12-7.3 dex.
Testing theories of angular-momentum acquisition of rotationally supported disc galaxies is the key to understand the formation of this type of galaxies. The tidal-torque theory tries to explain this acquisition process in a cosmological framework and predicts positive autocorrelations of angular-momentum orientation and spiral-arm handedness on distances of 1Mpc/h. This disc alignment can also cause systematic effects in weak-lensing measurements. Previous observations claimed discovering such correlations but did not account for errors in redshift, ellipticity and morphological classifications. We explain how to rigorously propagate all important errors. Analysing disc galaxies in the SDSS database, we find that positive autocorrelations of spiral-arm handedness and angular-momentum orientations on distances of 1Mpc/h are plausible but not statistically significant. This result agrees with a simple hypothesis test in the Local Group, where we find no evidence for disc alignment. Moreover, we demonstrate that ellipticity estimates based on second moments are strongly biased by galactic bulges, thereby corrupting correlation estimates and overestimating the impact of disc alignment on weak-lensing studies. Finally, we discuss the potential of future sky surveys. We argue that photometric redshifts have too large errors, i.e., PanSTARRS and LSST cannot be used. We also discuss potentials and problems of front-edge classifications of galaxy discs in order to improve estimates of angular-momentum orientation.