No Arabic abstract
We perform a stacking analysis of the HI spectra from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) survey for optically-selected local galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to study the average gas fraction of galaxies at fixed stellar mass ($M_*$) and star formation rate (SFR). We first confirm that the average gas fraction strongly depends on the stellar mass and SFR of host galaxies; massive galaxies tend to have a lower gas fraction, and actively star-forming galaxies show higher gas fraction, which is consistent with many previous studies. Then we investigate the morphological dependence of the HI gas mass fraction at fixed $M_*$ and SFR to minimize the effects of these parameters. We use three morphological classifications based on parametric indicator (S{e}rsic index), non-parametric indicator (C-index), and visual inspection (smoothness from the Galaxy Zoo 2 project) on the optical image. We find that there is no significant morphological dependence of the HI gas mass fraction at fixed $M_*$ and SFR when we use C-index. In comparison, there exists a hint of diminishment in the HI gas mass fraction for smooth galaxies compared with non-smooth galaxies. We find that the visual smoothness is sensitive to the existence of small-scale structures in a galaxy. Our result suggests that even at fixed $M_*$ and SFR, the presence of such small-scale structures (seen in the optical image) is linked to their total HI gas content.
The neutral hydrogen~(HI) gas is an important barometer of recent star formation and metal enrichment activities in galaxies. I develop a novel statistical method for predicting the HI-to-stellar mass ratio $f_{gas}$ of galaxies from their stellar mass and optical colour, and apply it to a volume-limited galaxy sample jointly observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey. I eliminate the impact of the Malmquist bias against HI-deficient systems on the $f_{gas}$ predictor by properly accounting for the HI detection probability of each galaxy in the analysis. The best-fitting $f_{gas}$ predictor, with an estimated scatter of $0.272$ dex, provides excellent description to the observed HI mass function. After defining an HI excess parameter as the deviation of the observed $f_{gas}$ from the expected value, I confirm that there exists a strong secondary dependence of the mass-metallicity relation on HI excess. By further examining the 2D metallicity distribution on the specific star formation rate vs. HI excess plane, I show that the metallicity dependence on HI is likely more fundamental than that on specific star formation rate. In addition, I find that the environmental dependence of HI in the local Universe can be effectively described by the cross-correlation coefficient between HI excess and the red galaxy overdensity $rho_{cc}{=}-0.18$. This weak anti-correlation also successfully explains the observed dependence of HI clustering on $f_{gas}$. My method provides a useful framework for learning HI gas evolution from the synergy between future HI and optical galaxy surveys.
We use observations made with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to probe the neutral hydrogen (HI) gas content of field galaxies in the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VVDS) 14h field at $z approx 0.32$. Because the HI emission from individual galaxies is too faint to detect at this redshift, we use an HI spectral stacking technique using the known optical positions and redshifts of the 165 galaxies in our sample to co-add their HI spectra and thus obtain the average HI mass of the galaxies. Stacked HI measurements of 165 galaxies show that 95 per cent of the neutral gas is found in blue, star-forming galaxies. Among these galaxies, those having lower stellar mass are more gas-rich than more massive ones. We apply a volume correction to our HI measurement to evaluate the HI gas density at $z approx 0.32$ as $Omega_{HI}=(0.50pm0.18) times 10^{-3}$ in units of the cosmic critical density. This value is in good agreement with previous results at z < 0.4, suggesting no evolution in the neutral hydrogen gas density over the last $sim 4$ Gyr. However the $z approx 0.32$ gas density is lower than that at $z sim 5$ by at least a factor of two.
Using mid-infrared star formation rate and stellar mass indicators in $textit{WISE}$, we construct and contrast the relation between star formation rate and stellar mass for isolated and paired galaxies. Our samples comprise a selection of AMIGA (isolated galaxies) and pairs of ALFALFA galaxies with HI detections such that we can examine the relationship between HI content (gas fraction, HI deficiency) and galaxy location on the main sequence (MS) in these two contrasting environments. We derive for the first time an HI scaling relation for isolated galaxies using $textit{WISE}$ stellar masses, and thereby establish a baseline predictor of HI content that can be used to assess the impact of environment on HI content when compared with samples of galaxies in different environments. We use this updated relation to determine the HI deficiency of both our paired and isolated galaxies. Across all the quantities examined as a function of environment in this work (MS location, gas fraction, and HI deficiency), the AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies is found to have the lower dispersion: $sigma_{rm{AMIGA}} = 0.37$ versus $sigma_{rm{PAIRS}} = 0.55$ on the MS, $sigma_{rm{AMIGA}} = 0.44$ versus $sigma_{rm{PAIRS}} = 0.54$ in gas fraction, and $sigma_{rm{AMIGA}} = 0.28$ versus $sigma_{rm{PAIRS}} = 0.34$ in HI deficiency. We also note fewer isolated quiescent galaxies, 3 (0.6$%$), compared to 12 (2.3$%$) quiescent pair members. Our results suggest the differences in scatter measured between our samples are environment driven. Galaxies in isolation behave relatively predictably, and galaxies in more densely populated environments adopt a more stochastic behaviour, across a broad range of quantities.
Using a sample of dwarf galaxies observed using the VIMOS IFU on the VLT, we investigate the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) as a function of star formation rate (FMR$_{text{SFR}}$) as well as HI-gas mass (FMR$_{text{HI}}$). We combine our IFU data with a subsample of galaxies from the ALFALFA HI survey crossmatched to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to study the FMR$_{text{SFR}}$ and FMR$_{text{HI}}$ across the stellar mass range 10$^{6.6}$ to 10$^{8.8}$ M$_odot$, with metallicities as low as 12+log(O/H) = 7.67. We find the 1$sigma$ mean scatter in the MZR to be 0.05 dex. The 1$sigma$ mean scatter in the FMR$_{text{SFR}}$ (0.02 dex) is significantly lower than that of the MZR. The FMR$_{text{SFR}}$ is not consistent between the IFU observed galaxies and the ALFALFA/SDSS galaxies for SFRs lower than 10$^{-2.4}$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$, however this could be the result of limitations of our measurements in that regime. The lowest mean scatter (0.01 dex) is found in the FMR$_{text{HI}}$. We also find that the FMR$_{text{HI}}$ is consistent between the IFU observed dwarf galaxies and the ALFALFA/SDSS crossmatched sample. We introduce the fundamental metallicity luminosity counterpart to the FMR, again characterized in terms of SFR (FML$_{text{SFR}}$) and HI-gas mass (FML$_{text{HI}}$). We find that the FML$_{text{HI}}$ relation is consistent between the IFU observed dwarf galaxy sample and the larger ALFALFA/SDSS sample. However the 1$sigma$ scatter for the FML$_{text{HI}}$ relation is not improved over the FMR$_{text{HI}}$ scenario. This leads us to conclude that the FMR$_{text{HI}}$ is the best candidate for a physically motivated fundamental metallicity relation.
We use an empirical relation to measure the HI scale height of relatively HI rich galaxies using 21-cm observations. The galaxies were selected from the BLUEDISK, THINGS and VIVA surveys. We aim to compare the thickness of the HI layer of unusually HI rich with normal spiral galaxies and find any correlation between the HI scale height with other galaxies properties. We found that on average the unusually HI rich galaxies have similar HI disk thickness to the control sample and the galaxies selected from the THINGS and VIVA surveys within their uncertainties. Our result also show that the average thickness of the neutral hydrogen inside the optical disk is correlated with the atomic gas fraction inside the optical disk with a scatter of ~ 0.22 dex. A correlation is also found between the HI scale height with the atomic-to-molecular gas ratio which indicates the link between star formation and the vertical distribution of HI which is consistent with previous studies. This new scaling relation between the HI scale height and atomic gas fraction will allow us to predict the HI scale height of a large number of galaxies but a larger sample is needed to decrease the scatter.