Only the Lonely: H I Imaging of Void Galaxies
  Void galaxies, residing within the deepest underdensities of the Cosmic Web,
present an ideal population for the study of galaxy formation and evolution in
an environment undisturbed by the complex processes modifying galaxies in
clusters and groups, as well as provide an observational test for theories of
cosmological structure formation. We have completed a pilot survey for the HI
imaging aspects of a new Void Galaxy Survey (VGS), imaging 15 void galaxies in
HI in local (d < 100 Mpc) voids. HI masses range from 3.5 x 10^8 to 3.8 x 10^9
M_sun, with one nondetection with an upper limit of 2.1 x 10^8 M_sun. Our
galaxies were selected using a structural and geometric technique to produce a
sample that is purely environmentally selected and uniformly represents the
void galaxy population. In addition, we use a powerful new backend of the
Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope that allows us to probe a large volume
around each targeted galaxy, simultaneously providing an environmentally
constrained sample of fore- and background control sample of galaxies while
still resolving individual galaxy kinematics and detecting faint companions in
HI. This small sample makes up a surprisingly interesting collection of
perturbed and interacting galaxies, all with small stellar disks. Four galaxies
have significantly perturbed HI disks, five have previously unidentified
companions at distances ranging from 50 to 200 kpc, two are in interacting
systems, and one was found to have a polar HI disk. Our initial findings
suggest void galaxies are a gas-rich, dynamic population which present evidence
of ongoing gas accretion, major and minor interactions, and filamentary
alignment despite the surrounding underdense environment.
