Angular Momentum Content in Gas Rich Dwarf Galaxies
  We derive the specific baryonic angular momentum of five gas rich dwarf
galaxies from HI kinematics complemented by stellar mass profiles. Since the
gas mass of these galaxies is much larger than the stellar mass, the angular
momentum can be determined with relatively little uncertainty arising from the
uncertainties in the stellar mass to light ratio. We compare the relation
between the specific baryonic angular momentum (j) and the total baryonic mass
(M) for these galaxies with that found for spiral galaxies. Our combined sample
explores the j-M plane over 3 orders of magnitude in baryon mass. We find that
our sample dwarf have significantly higher specific angular momentum than
expected from the relation found for spiral galaxies. The probability that
these gas rich dwarf galaxies follow the same relation as spirals is found to
be $<10^{-6}$. This implies a difference in the evolution of angular momentum
in these galaxies compared to larger ones. We suggest that this difference
could arise due to one or more of the following: a lower baryon fraction in
dwarf galaxies, particularly that arising from preferential outflows low
angular momentum gas as found in high resolution simulations that include
baryonic feedback; "cold mode" anisotropic accretion from cosmic filaments. Our
work reinforces the importance of the j-M plane in understanding the evolution
of galaxies.
