GBT26A-576

Constraining the HI-Stellar Mass Relation for Low-Mass Isolated Galaxies

Abstract

We propose to constrain the neutral hydrogen (HI) content of 226 low-mass, low-redshift isolated galaxies selected from the SDSS/NSA and SAGA Survey background samples. Although literature HI-stellar mass relations exist for low-mass isolated galaxies, these rely on large-area HI surveys that lack the sensitivity to detect low gas fractions, particularly below HI-stellar mass ratios of unity. Our goal is to fill in this missing low gas fraction parameter space and complement existing data to establish the first highly complete HI-stellar mass relation for isolated galaxies down to stellar masses of 10^7.5 solar masses, with sensitivity to gas fractions of ~20% or lower. We request 331.25 hours, divided into 55 sessions. These data will provide a critical benchmark for the HI-stellar mass relation in low-mass isolated galaxies and offer essential context for interpreting gas depletion in comparison samples across different environments, such as satellite galaxies. These sessions are simple to execute and are therefore well-suited to an operator-run filler program. Even partial completion of this sample would offer substantial value filling in the low-HI end of the distribution, and a fully complete sample would yield definitive constraints on the HI-stellar mass relation for low-mass isolated galaxies.

Investigators

Name	Institution
GBT Operator	Green Bank Observatory
Yasmeen Asali *	Yale University
Marla Geha	Yale University
Yao-Yuan Mao	Utah, University of

* indicates the PI