Gas in Void Galaxies
type: CreativeWork
description: 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, and provide an observational test for theories of cosmological structure formation. We investigate the neutral hydrogen properties (i.e. content, morphology, kinematics) of void galaxies, both individually and systematically, using a combination of observations and simulations, to form a more complete understanding of the nature of these systems. We investigate in detail the H I morphology and kinematics of two void galaxies. One is an isolated polar disk galaxy in a diffuse cosmological wall situated between two voids. The considerable gas mass and apparent lack of stars in the polar disk, coupled with the general underdensity of the environment, supports recent theories of cold flow accretion as an alternate formation mechanism for polar disk galaxies. We also examine KK 246, the only confirmed galaxy located within the nearby Tully Void. It is a dwarf galaxy with an extremely extended H I disk and signs of an H I cloud with anomalous velocity. It also exhibits clear misalignment between the kinematical major and minor axes, and a general misalignment between the H I and optical major axes. The relative isolation and extreme underdense environment make these both very interesting cases for examining the role of gas accretion in galaxy evolution. To study void galaxies as a population, we have carefully selected a sample of 60 galaxies that reside in the deepest underdensities of geometrically identified voids within the SDSS. We have imaged this new Void Galaxy Survey in H I at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope with a typical resolution of 8 kpc, probing a volume of 1.2 Mpc and 12,000 km s⁻¹ surrounding each galaxy. We reach H I mass limits of 2 x 10⁸M_sun and column density sensitivities of 5 x 10¹⁹ cm⁻². We f…
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, and provide an observational test for theories of cosmological structure formation. We investigate the neutral hydrogen properties (i.e. content, morphology, kinematics) of void galaxies, both individually and systematically, using a combination of observations and simulations, to form a more complete understanding of the nature of these systems. We investigate in detail the H I morphology and kinematics of two void galaxies. One is an isolated polar disk galaxy in a diffuse cosmological wall situated between two voids. The considerable gas mass and apparent lack of stars in the polar disk, coupled with the general underdensity of the environment, supports recent theories of cold flow accretion as an alternate formation mechanism for polar disk galaxies. We also examine KK 246, the only confirmed galaxy located within the nearby Tully Void. It is a dwarf galaxy with an extremely extended H I disk and signs of an H I cloud with anomalous velocity. It also exhibits clear misalignment between the kinematical major and minor axes, and a general misalignment between the H I and optical major axes. The relative isolation and extreme underdense environment make these both very interesting cases for examining the role of gas accretion in galaxy evolution. To study void galaxies as a population, we have carefully selected a sample of 60 galaxies that reside in the deepest underdensities of geometrically identified voids within the SDSS. We have imaged this new Void Galaxy Survey in H I at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope with a typical resolution of 8 kpc, probing a volume of 1.2 Mpc and 12,000 km s⁻¹ surrounding each galaxy. We reach H I mass limits of 2 x 10⁸M_sun and column density sensitivities of 5 x 10¹⁹ cm⁻². We f…
author: Kreckel, Kathryn Joyce
language: English
keywords: Astronomy, Galaxies--Formation, Galaxies--Evolution, Dwarf galaxies
date published: 2011
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:44:14Z
provider: Columbia University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Columbia University

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.7916/D8BV7PMR