Active Disk Building in a local HI-Massive LIRG: The Synergy between
  Gas, Dust, and Star Formation
  HIZOA J0836-43 is the most HI-massive (M_HI = 7.5x10^10 Msun) galaxy detected
in the HIPASS volume and lies optically hidden behind the Milky Way. Markedly
different from other extreme HI disks in the local universe, it is a luminous
infrared galaxy (LIRG) with an actively star forming disk (>50 kpc), central to
its ~ 130 kpc gas disk, with a total star formation rate (SFR) of ~20.5 Msun
yr^{-1}. Spitzer spectroscopy reveals an unusual combination of powerful
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission coupled to a relatively weak
warm dust continuum, suggesting photodissociation region (PDR)-dominated
emission. Compared to a typical LIRG with similar total infrared luminosity
(L_TIR=10^11 Lsun), the PAHs in HIZOA J0836-43 are more than twice as strong,
whereas the warm dust continuum (lambda > 20micron) is best fit by a star
forming galaxy with L_TIR=10^10 Lsun. Mopra CO observations suggest an extended
molecular gas component (H_2 + He > 3.7x10^9 Msun) and a lower limit of ~ 64%
for the gas mass fraction; this is above average compared to local disk
systems, but similar to that of z~1.5 BzK galaxies (~57%). However, the star
formation efficiency (SFE = L_IR/L'_CO) for HIZOA J0836-43 of 140 Lsun (K km
s^{-1} pc^2)^{-1} is similar to that of local spirals and other disk galaxies
at high redshift, in strong contrast to the increased SFE seen in merging and
strongly interacting systems. HIZOA J0836-43 is actively forming stars and
building a massive stellar disk. Its evolutionary phase of star formation
(M_stellar, SFR, gas fraction) compared to more distant systems suggests that
it would be considered typical at redshift z~1. This galaxy provides a rare
opportunity in the nearby universe for studying (at z~0.036) how disks were
building and galaxies evolving at z~1, when similarly large gas fractions were
likely more common.
