Morphology, Environment, and the HI Mass Function

Abstract

We exploit a large, complete optical diameter and HI flux limited sample of spiral galaxies with types later than S0a to derive a robust measurement of the HI mass function (HIMF) for masses log(M_HI/M_Sun) > 7.4 which takes into account the effects of local large scale structure. The global HIMF derived for this optically-selected sample is well fit by a Schechter function with alpha = -1.24, log(M* / M_Sun)=9.99, phi* = 3.2 (10^{-3}) Mpc^{-3}. These values match those derived from blind HI surveys to within the estimated uncertainties, yet our estimated HIMF is clearly lower than most other estimates at the lowest masses. We also investigate the variation in the derived HIMF among spiral subclasses, finding a clear distinction between the Schechter parameters found for types Sa-Sc and those Scd and later, in the sense that the HIMF of the latest types is rising at the low mass end, whereas that of the main spiral classes is flat or even declining. We also explore the possible environmental dependence of the HIMF by computing it separately in regimes of differing cosmic density. The HIMFs of higher density regions are found to have flatter low-mass ends and lower values of M* than those of lower density regions, although the statistical significance of the difference is low. We find that the environmental dependence cannot be accounted for by morphological segregation, and must be a consequence of differences among galaxies of the same morphological type but found in different environments. If this dependence is caused by the well known deficiency of galaxies in clusters, then it would suggest that galaxies of small linear optical diameter are characterized by higher HI deficiency, an expectation consistent with gas removal mechanisms such as ram pressure stripping.