AGC198606: A gas-bearing dark matter minihalo?

E. A.K. Adams*, Y. Faerman, W. F. Janesh, S. Janowiecki, T. A. Oosterloo, K. L. Rhode, R. Giovanelli, M. P. Haynes, J. J. Salzer, A. Sternberg, J. M. Cannon, R. R. Muñoz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present neutral hydrogen (H' i) imaging observations with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope of AGC198606, an H' i cloud discovered in the ALFALFA 21cm survey. This object is of particular note as it is located 16 km s-1 and 1. 2 from the gas-bearing ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Leo T while having a similar H' i linewidth and approximately twice the flux density. The H' i imaging observations reveal a smooth, undisturbed H' i morphology with a full extent of 23′ × 16′ at the 5 × 1018 atoms' cm-2 level. The velocity field of AGC198606 shows ordered motion with a gradient of ∼25 km s-1 across ∼20′. The global velocity dispersion is 9.3 km s-1 with no evidence for a narrow spectral component. No optical counterpart to AGC198606 is detected. The distance to AGC198606 is unknown, and we consider several different scenarios: physical association with Leo T, a minihalo at a distance of ∼150 kpc based on the models of Faerman et al. (2013, ApJ, 777, 119), and a cloud in the Galactic halo. At a distance of 420 kpc, AGC198606 would have an H' i mass of 6.2 × 105 M, an H' i radius of 1.4 kpc, and a dynamical mass within the H' i extent of 1.5 × 108 M.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL3
JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
Volume573
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2015

Funding

FundersFunder number
Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Research
National Science FoundationAST-0607007, AST-1107390
Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences0607007, 1211683, 0847109, 1107390
Brinson FoundationAST-1211683, AST-0847109
Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y TecnológicaACT-1122
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
ASTRON

    Keywords

    • Galaxies: ISM
    • Galaxies: dwarf
    • Local group
    • Radio lines: galaxies

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