The diversity of atomic hydrogen in slow rotator early-type galaxies
Résumé
We present interferometric observations of H I in nine slow rotator early-type galaxies of the Atlas3D sample. With these data, we now have sensitive H I searches in 34 of the 36 slow rotators. The aggregate detection rate is 32 per cent ± 8 per cent, consistent with the previous work; however, we find two detections with extremely high H I masses, whose gas kinematics are substantially different from what was previously known about H I in slow rotators. These two cases (NGC 1222 and NGC 4191) broaden the known diversity of H I properties in slow rotators. NGC 1222 is a merger remnant with prolate-like rotation and, if it is indeed prolate in shape, an equatorial gas disc; NGC 4191 has two counter-rotating stellar discs and an unusually large H I disc. We comment on the implications of this disc for the formation of 2σ galaxies. In general, the H I detection rate, the incidence of relaxed H I discs, and the H I/stellar mass ratios of slow rotators are indistinguishable from those of fast rotators. These broad similarities suggest that the H I we are detecting now is unrelated to the galaxies' formation processes and was often acquired after their stars were mostly in place. We also discuss the H I non-detections; some of these galaxies that are undetected in H I or CO are detected in other tracers (e.g. FIR fine structure lines and dust). The question of whether there is cold gas in massive galaxies' scoured nuclear cores still needs work. Finally, we discuss an unusual isolated H I cloud with a surprisingly faint (undetected) optical counterpart.
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