Almost Optically Dark Galaxies in DECaLS (I): Detection, Optical Properties and Possible Origins

We report the discovery of eight optical counterparts of ALFALFA extragalactic objects from DECaLS, five of which are discovered for the first time. These objects were flagged as HI emission sources with no optical counterparts in SDSS before. Multi-band data reveal their unusual physical properties. They are faint and blue ($g-r=-0.35\sim0.55$), with quite low surface brightness ($\mu_{\rm g,peak}=24.88\sim26.41\,{\rm mag}/{\rm arcsec}^2$), irregular morphologies, low stellar masses ($log_{10}(M_{*}/M_\odot)=5.27\sim7.15$), low star formation rates ($SFR=0.21\sim9.24\times10^{-3}\,{M_\odot}\,{\rm yr}^{-1}$), and remarkably high HI-to-stellar mass ratios ($log_{10}(M_{\rm HI}/M_{*}) = 1.72\sim3.22$, except AGC\,215415). They deviate from the scaling relations between HI and optical properties defined by the ALFALFA sample and the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation. They agree well with the main sequence of star-forming galaxies but exhibit low star-forming efficiency. Based on their physical properties and environments, we speculate that six of these objects may have originated from tidal processes, while the remaining two appear to have isolated origins. They may have had a relatively calm evolutionary history and only begun to form stars recently.
Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, accepted by the Astrophysical Journal