Search

We conducted a search for |$\textrm {H}\, \scriptstyle \mathrm{I}$| emission of the gas-rich galaxies in the Vela region (260° ≤ ℓ ≤ 290°, −2° ≤ b ≤ 1°) to explore the Vela Supercluster (VSCL) at V hel ∼ 18 000  |$\rm km\, s^{-1}$|⁠ , largely obscured by Galactic dust. Within the mostly Radio Frequency Interference-free band (250 < V hel < 25 000  |$\rm km\, s^{-1}$|⁠) of MeerKAT, the analysis focuses on 157 hexagonally distributed pointings extracted from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey located in the Vela region (Vela−SMGPS). These were combined into 10 contiguous mosaics, covering an ∼90 square degrees area. Among the 843 |$\textrm {H}\, \scriptstyle \mathrm{I}$| detected sources, 39 were previously discovered in the H  i Parkes Zone of Avoidance survey (V hel < 12 000  |$\rm km\, s^{-1}$|⁠ ; rms ∼ 6  |$\rm mJy\, beam^{-1}$|⁠). With the improved rms level of the Vela−SMGPS, i.e. 0.29–0.56  |$\rm mJy\, beam^{-1}$|⁠ , our study unveils nearly 12 times more detections (471 candidates) in that same velocity range. We furthermore could identify 187 galaxy candidates with an |$\textrm {H}\, \scriptstyle \mathrm{I}$| mass limit reaching |$\log (M_{\rm HI}/\rm {\rm M}_{\odot }) = 9.44$| in the VSCL velocity range V hel ∼ 19 500 ± 3500  |$\rm km\, s^{-1}$|⁠. We find indications of two wall-like overdensities that confirm the original suspicion that these walls intersect at low latitudes around longitudes of ℓ ∼ 272°–278°. We also find a strong signature most likely associated with the Hydra/Antlia extension and evidence of a previously unknown narrow filament at V hel ∼ 12 000 |$\rm km\, s^{-1}$|⁠. This paper demonstrates the efficiency of systematic |$\textrm {H}\, \scriptstyle \mathrm{I}$| surveys with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) precursor MeerKAT, even in the most obscured part of the Zone of Avoidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first measurement of H i mass of star-forming galaxies in different large scale structure environments from a blind survey at z ∼ 0.37. In particular, we carry out a spectral line stacking analysis considering 2875 spectra of colour-selected star-forming galaxies undetected in H i at 0.23 < z < 0.49 in the COSMOS field, extracted from the MIGHTEE-H i Early Science data cubes, acquired with the MeerKAT radio telescope. We stack galaxies belonging to different subsamples depending on three different definitions of large-scale structure environment: local galaxy overdensity, position inside the host dark matter halo (central, satellite, or isolated), and cosmic web type (field, filament, or knot). We first stack the full star-forming galaxy sample and find a robust H i detection yielding an average galaxy H i mass of |$M_{\rm H \, {\small I}}=(8.12\pm 0.75)\times 10^9\, {\rm M}_\odot$| at ∼11.8σ. Next, we investigate the different subsamples finding a negligible difference in M H i as a function of the galaxy overdensity. We report an H i excess compared to the full sample in satellite galaxies (M H i  = (11.31 ± 1.22) × 109, at ∼10.2σ) and in filaments (M H i  = (11.62 ± 0.90) × 109. Conversely, we report non-detections for the central and knot galaxies subsamples, which appear to be H i -deficient. We find the same qualitative results also when stacking in units of H i fraction (f H i ). We conclude that the H i amount in star-forming galaxies at the studied redshifts correlates with the large-scale structure environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first H  i results extracted from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey (SMGPS) – a narrow strip (Δ b ∼ 3°) along the southern Milky Way. The primary goal consisted in tracing the great attractor (GA) wall across the innermost zone of avoidance. We reduced a segment spanning the longitude range 302° ≤ ℓ ≤ 332° for the redshift range z ≤ 0.08. The superb SMGPS sensitivity (rms = 0.3–0.5 mJy beam−1 per 44 km s−1 channel) and angular resolution (∼31″ × 26″) lead to a detection limit of log(M H  i /M⊙) ≥ 8.5 at the GA distance (⁠|$\mbox{$V_{\rm {hel}}$}\, \sim 3500{\!-\!}6500$|  km s−1). A total of 477 galaxy candidates were identified over the full redshift range. A comparison of the few H  i detections with counterparts in the literature (mostly HIZOA) found the H  i fluxes and other H  i parameters to be highly consistent. The continuation of the GA wall is confirmed through a prominent overdensity of N  = 214 detections in the GA distance range. At higher latitudes, the wall moves to higher redshifts, supportive of a possible link with the Ophiuchus cluster located behind the Galactic Bulge. This deep interferometric H  i survey demonstrates the power of the SMGPS in improving our insight of large-scale structures at these extremely low latitudes, despite the high obscuration and continuum background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Local Void is one of the nearest large voids, located at a distance of 23 Mpc. It lies largely behind the Galactic Bulge and is therefore extremely difficult to observe. We use H  i 21 cm emission observations from the SARAO MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey (SMGPS) to study the Local Void and its surroundings over the Galactic longitude range 329° < ℓ < 55°, Galactic latitude | b | < 1.5°, and redshift cz < 7500 |$\rm km \, s^{-1}$|⁠. We have detected 291 galaxies to median rms sensitivity of 0.44 mJy per beam per 44 |$\rm km \, s^{-1}$| channel. We find 17 galaxies deep inside the Void, 96 at the border of the Void, while the remaining 178 galaxies are in average density environments. The extent of the Void is ∼58 Mpc. It is severely underdense for the longitude range 350° < ℓ < 35° up to redshift z < 4500 |$\rm km \, s^{-1}$|⁠. The galaxies in the Void tend to have H  i masses that are lower (by approximately 0.25 dex) than their average density counterparts. We find several potential candidates for small groups of galaxies, of which two groups (with 3 members and 5 members) in the Void show signs of filamentary substructure within the Void. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the |$M_{\rm H\, {\small {I}}}-M_{\star }$| relation over the last billion years using the MIGHTEE-H  i sample. We first model the upper envelope of the |$M_{\rm H\, {\small {I}}}-M_{\star }$| relation with a Bayesian technique applied to a total number of 249 H  i -selected galaxies, without binning the data sets, while taking account of the intrinsic scatter. We fit the envelope with both linear and non-linear models, and find that the non-linear model is preferred over the linear one with a measured transition stellar mass of log10(M ⋆/M⊙) = 9.15 ± 0.87, beyond which the slope flattens. This finding supports the view that the lack of H  i gas is ultimately responsible for the decreasing star formation rate observed in the massive main-sequence galaxies. For spirals alone, which are biased towards the massive galaxies in our sample, the slope beyond the transition mass is shallower than for the full sample, indicative of distinct gas processes ongoing for the spirals/high-mass galaxies from other types with lower stellar masses. We then create mock catalogues for the MIGHTEE-H  i detections and non-detections with two main galaxy populations of late- and early-type galaxies to measure the underlying |$M_{\rm H\, {\small {I}}}-M_{\star }$| relation. We find that the turnover in this relation persists whether considering the two galaxy populations as a whole or separately. We note that an underlying linear relation could mimic this turnover in the observed scaling relation, but a model with a turnover is strongly preferred. Measurements on the logarithmic average of H  i masses against the stellar mass are provided as a benchmark for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the relationship between the H  i specific angular momentum (⁠|$\rm j_{g}$|⁠) and the H  i mass (⁠|$\rm M_{g}$|⁠) for a sample of galaxies with well-measured H  i rotation curves. We find that the relation is well described by an unbroken power law |$\rm j_{g}$| ∝ |$\rm M_{g}$| α over the entire mass range (107–1010.5 M⊙), with α = 0.89 ± 0.05 (scatter 0.18 dex). This is in reasonable agreement with models which assume that evolutionary processes maintain H  i discs in a marginally stable state. The slope we observe is also significantly different from both the j  ∝ M 2/3 relation expected for dark matter haloes from tidal torquing models and the observed slope of the specific angular momentum–mass relation for the stellar component of disc galaxies. Our sample includes two H  i -bearing ultra-diffuse galaxies, and we find that their angular momentum follows the same relation as other galaxies. The only discrepant galaxies in our sample are early-type galaxies with large rotating H  i discs, which are found to have significantly higher angular momentum than expected from the power-law relation. The H  i discs of all these early-type galaxies are misaligned or counter-rotating with respect to the stellar discs, consistent with the gas being recently accreted. We speculate that late-stage wet mergers, as well as cold flows play a dominant role in determining the kinematics of the baryonic component of galaxies as suggested by recent numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we report the discovery with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope of an extremely large (∼115 kpc in diameter) H  i ring, located around a massive quenched galaxy, AGC 203001, but off-centred with respect to it. This ring does not have any bright extended optical counterpart unlike several other known ring galaxies. Our deep g -, r- , and i -band optical imaging of the H  i ring, using the MegaCam instrument on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, shows however several regions with faint optical emission at a surface brightness level of ∼28 mag arcsec−2. Such an extended H  i structure is very rare with only one other case known so far – the Leo ring. Conventionally, off-centred rings have been explained by a collision with an 'intruder' galaxy leading to expanding density waves of gas and stars in the form of a ring. However, in such a scenario the impact also leads to large amounts of star formation in the ring that is not observed in the ring presented in this paper. We discuss possible scenarios for the formation of such H  i -dominated rings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct mass models of eight gas rich dwarf galaxies that lie in the Lynx–Cancer void. From NFW fits to the dark matter halo profile, we find that the concentration parameters of haloes of void dwarf galaxies are similar to those of dwarf galaxies in normal density regions. We also measure the slope of the central dark matter density profiles, obtained by converting the rotation curves derived using 3D (fat) and 2D (ROTCUR) tilted ring fitting routines, into mass densities. We find that the average slope (α  = −1.39 ± 0.19), obtained from 3D fitting is consistent with that expected from an NFW profile. On the other hand, the average slope measured using the 2D approach is closer to what would be expected for an isothermal profile. This suggests that systematic effects in velocity field analysis have a significant effect on the slope of the central dark matter density profiles. Given the modest number of galaxies we use for our analysis, it is important to check these results using a larger sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]