No Arabic abstract
We present the analysis of the diffuse, low column density HI environment of 18 MHONGOOSE galaxies. We obtained deep observations with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, and reached down to a 3sigma column density detection limit of NHI=6.3x10^{17} cm^{-2} over a 20 km/s linewidth. We analyze the environment around these galaxies, with a focus on HI gas that reaches column densities below NHI=10^{19} cm^{-2}. We calculate the total amount of HI gas in and around the galaxies revealing that nearly all of these galaxies contained excess HI outside of their disks. We quantify the amount of diffuse gas in the maps of each galaxy, defined by HI gas with column densities below 10^{19} cm^{-2}, and find a large spread in percentages of diffuse gas. However, by binning the percentage of diffuse HI into quarters, we find that the bin with the largest number of galaxies is the lowest quartile (0-25% diffuse HI). We identified several galaxies which may be undergoing gas accretion onto the galaxy disk using multiple methods of analysis, including azimuthally averaging column densities beyond the disk, and identifying structure within our integrated intensity (Moment 0) maps. We measured HI mass outside the disks of most of our galaxies, with rising cumulative flux even at large radii. We also find a strong correlation between the fraction of diffuse gas in a galaxy and its baryonic mass, and test this correlation using both Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients. We see evidence of a dark matter halo mass threshold of M_{halo}~10^{11.1} msun{} in which galaxies with high fractions of diffuse HI all reside below. It is in this regime in which cold-mode accretion should dominate. Finally, we suggest a rotation velocity of v_{rot}~80 kms as an upper threshold to find diffuse gas-dominated galaxies.
We present atomic hydrogen (HI) observations using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope along the lines-of-sight to 27 low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxy candidates discovered in optical searches around M101. We detect HI reservoirs in 5 targets and place stringent upper limits on the remaining 22, implying that they are gas poor. The distances to our HI detections range from 7 Mpc --150 Mpc, demonstrating the utility of wide-bandpass HI observations as a follow-up tool. The systemic velocities of 3 detections are consistent with that of the NGC~5485 group behind M101, and we suggest that our 15 non-detections with lower distance limits from the optical are associated with and have been stripped by that group. We find that the gas richnesses of confirmed M101 satellites are broadly consistent with those of the Milky Way satellites, as well as with those of satellites around other hosts of comparable mass, when survey completeness is taken into account. This suggests that satellite quenching and gas stripping proceeds similarly around halos of similar mass, in line with theoretical expectations.
We present MeerKAT observations of neutral hydrogen gas (HI) in the nearby merger remnant NGC 1316 (Fornax A), the brightest member of a galaxy group which is falling into the Fornax cluster. We find HI on a variety of scales, from the galaxy centre to its large-scale environment. For the first time we detect HI at large radii (70 - 150 kpc in projection), mostly distributed on two long tails associated with the galaxy. Gas in the tails dominates the HI mass of NGC 1316: 7e+8 Msun -- 14 times more than in previous observations. The total HI mass is comparable to the amount of neutral gas found inside the stellar body, mostly in molecular form. The HI tails are associated with faint optical tidal features thought to be the remnant of a galaxy merger occurred a few billion years ago. They demonstrate that the merger was gas-rich. During the merger, tidal forces pulled some gas and stars out to large radii, where we now detect them in the form of optical tails and, thanks to our new data, HI tails; while torques caused the remaining gas to flow towards the centre of the remnant, where it was converted into molecular gas and fuelled the starburst revealed by the galaxys stellar populations. Several of the observed properties of NGC 1316 can be reproduced by a ~ 10:1 merger between a dominant, gas-poor early-type galaxy and a smaller, gas-rich spiral occurred 1 - 3 Gyr ago, likely followed by subsequent accretion of satellite galaxies.
This review summarizes recent studies of the cold neutral hydrogen gas associated with galaxies probed via the HI 21-cm absorption line. HI 21-cm absorption against background radio-loud quasars is a powerful tool to study the neutral gas distribution and kinematics in foreground galaxies from kilo-parsec to parsec scales. At low redshifts (z<0.4), it has been used to characterize the distribution of high column density neutral gas around galaxies and study the connection of this gas with the galaxys optical properties. The neutral gas around galaxies has been found to be patchy in distribution, with variations in optical depth observed at both kilo-parsec and parsec scales. At high redshifts (z>0.5), HI 21-cm absorption has been used to study the neutral gas in metal or Lyman-alpha absorption-selected galaxies. It has been found to be closely linked with the metal and dust content of the gas. Trends of various properties like incidence, spin temperature and velocity width of HI 21-cm absorption with redshift have been studied, which imply evolution of cold gas properties in galaxies with cosmic time. Upcoming large blind surveys of HI 21-cm absorption with next generation radio telescopes are expected to determine accurately the redshift evolution of the number density of HI 21-cm absorbers per unit redshift and hence understand what drives the global star formation rate density evolution.
Here I briefly highlight our studies of the gas content, kinematics and star formation in nearby dwarf galaxies (D < 10 Mpc) based on the `Local Volume HI Survey (LVHIS, Koribalski et al. 2018), which was conducted with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The LVHIS sample consists of nearly 100 galaxies, including new discoveries, spanning a large diversity in size, shape, mass and degree of peculiarity. The hydrogen properties of dwarf galaxies in two nearby groups, Sculptor and CenA / M83, are analysed and compared with many rather isolated dwarf galaxies. Around 10% of LVHIS galaxies are transitional or mixed-type dwarf galaxies (dIrr/dSph), the formation of which is explored. - I also provide a brief update on WALLABY Early Science, where we focus on studying the HI properties of galaxies as a function of environment. WALLABY (Dec < +30 degr, z < 0.26) is conducted with the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP), a 6-km diameter array of 36 x 12-m dishes, each equipped with wide-field (30 sq degr) Chequerboard Phased Array Feeds.
We present the design and methods of the COS-Halos survey, a systematic investigation of the gaseous halos of 44 z = 0.15-0.35 galaxies using background QSOs observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. This survey has yielded 39 spectra of z_em ~ 0.5 QSOs with S/N ~ 10-15 per resolution element. The QSO sightlines pass within 150 physical kpc of the galaxies, which span early and late types over stellar mass log M* / Msun= 9.5 - 11.5. We find that the CGM exhibits strong HI, averaging 1 Ang in Lya equivalent width out to 150 kpc, with 100% covering fraction for star-forming galaxies and 75% covering for passive galaxies. We find good agreement in column densities between this survey and previous studies over similar range of impact parameter. There is weak evidence for a difference between early- and late-type galaxies in the strength and distribution of HI. Kinematics indicate that the detected material is bound to the host galaxy, such that >~90% of the detected column density is confined within +/-200 km s^-1 of the galaxies. This material generally exists well below the halo virial temperatures at T<~ 10^5 K. We evaluate a number of possible origin scenarios for the detected material, and in the end favor a simple model in which the bulk of the detected HI arises in a bound, cool, low-density photoionized diffuse medium that is generic to all L* galaxies and may harbor a total gaseous mass comparable to galactic stellar masses.