The Population of Galaxies that Contribute to The HI Mass Function

TL;DR

This study analyzes the contributions of different galaxy populations to the local Universe's HI mass function using a large HI-selected galaxy sample, revealing dominant populations across mass ranges and their impact on the HI density parameter.

Contribution

It provides a detailed breakdown of galaxy populations' contributions to the HI mass function and density, including dark galaxies, based on a large, combined SDSS and ALFALFA dataset.

Findings

Luminous red galaxies dominate at high HI masses.

Blue populations contribute 55-70% to the HI density.

Dark galaxies account for about 3% of the HI density.

Abstract

We look at the contribution of different galaxy populations to the atomic hydrogen (HI) mass function (HIMF) and the HI density parameter, $\Omega_{\text{HI}}$, in the local Universe. Our analysis is based on a sample of 7857 HI-selected galaxies selected from a volume common to the SDSS and ALFALFA surveys (40$\%$ catalog -- $\alpha.40$). We define different populations of galaxies in the color(u-r)-magnitude($M_{\text{r}}$) plane and compute the HIMF for each of them. Additionally we compute the HIMF for dark galaxies; these are undetected in SDSS and represent $\sim 2\%$ of the total sample. We find that the luminous red population dominates the total HIMF for $\log_{10}(M_{\text{HI}}h^2_{70}/M_{\odot}) \geq 10.4$. The full red population -- luminous and faint -- represents about $\sim 17\%$ of the $\Omega_{\text{HI}}$ budget, while that of the dark population is $\sim 3\%$. The HIMF about the knee, $\log_{10}(M_{\text{HI}}h^2_{70}/M_{\odot}) \in [8,10.4]$, is dominated by the faint and luminous blue populations, the latter dominating at larger masses in this interval. Their total contribution to $\Omega_{\text{HI}}$ is $\sim 55-70\%$, the variation depending on the definition of population. The dominant populations at the low mass end, $\log_{10}(M_{\text{HI}}h^2_{70}/M_{\odot}) \leq 8.0$ are the faint blue and faint bluer populations, the latter's dominance being sensitive to its definition. The full blue (blue--bluer luminous and faint) population represents $\sim 80\%$ of $\Omega_{\text{HI}}$. A bimodal HIMF suggested by our results is however not seen since the amplitude of the HIMF of the luminous red population is small compared to that of the luminous blue population.