GBT24B-330

Understanding the Baryon Cycle of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies

Abstract

We request 63 hours to measure the HI content of 44 Ultra Diffuse Galaxy (UDG) candidates from the Systematically Measuring Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (SMUDGes) survey. The peculiar nature of UDGs, with stellar masses similar to dwarf galaxies but larger physical sizes, is still not well understood. This is especially true concerning their star formation cycle. How did these objects form such extended stellar distributions and what do their star formation histories look like? The particular subset of UDG candidates in this proposal has been observed with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager to characterize the star formation cycle of UDGs. The analysis of these optical spectra is underway. The missing piece in constraining the star formation efficiencies of these UDG candidates is their initial fuel for star formation, their HI content. With the requested observations we will be able to take the derived star formation properties and begin to understand the star formation efficiencies of these systems. Additionally, we will be able to request higher spatial resolution VLA observations for suitable candidates.

Investigators

Name	Institution
Michael Cooper	California at Irvine, University of
Loraine Sandoval Ascencio	California at Irvine, University of
Richard Donnerstein	Arizona, University of
Khadeejah Motiwala	Queen's University
Dennis Zaritsky	Arizona, University of
Kristine Spekkens	Queen's University
Ananthan Karunakaran *	Toronto, University of
GBT Operator	Green Bank Observatory

* indicates the PI