HI Observations of Giant Low Surface Brightness Galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates the gas content and rotational properties of giant low surface brightness galaxies using HI observations, providing insights into their formation possibly through recent mergers.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed HI analysis of 19 gLSBs, comparing observations with simulations to explore their formation mechanisms.

Findings

Most gLSBs have high but lower-than-expected HI masses.

Some gLSBs show asymmetric HI spectra indicating disturbed disks.

Evidence suggests recent mergers may explain the large optical disks.

Abstract

Giant low surface brightness galaxies (gLSBs) are galaxies with extremely extended, faint, optical disks over 50 kpc in radius and have high total masses which can reach 10^12 solar masses. The existence of such galaxies is problematic for current models of galaxy formation, since the major mergers responsible for the large total mass would likely have destroyed the extended optical disk. Examining the gas content of these galaxies is an important step in determining their formation mechanism, whether it be through slow gas accretion or the large disk (re)forming after a major merger. We present neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) observations of 19 gLSBs identified with the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program survey. Although most have high HI masses, they are generally lower than expected based on their large optical sizes, and we do identify some gLSBs with unusually low gas content. The HI spectra of these galaxies show evidence for a rotational disk, though these disks are more asymmetric than other galaxies with comparable mass. Four galaxies with similar surface brightness profiles to the gLSBs have also been selected from the Numerical Investigation of a Hundred Astrophysical Objects (NIHAO) simulation for comparison. There is evidence for significant galaxy mergers in the past for three of these NIHAO galaxies and these three galaxies show similar asymmetry in their HI spectra. Together, these results could indicate the large optical disk of gLSBs are the result of a recent merger.