Galaxy evolution in extreme environments: Molecular gas content, star formation and AGN in isolated void galaxies

Mousumi Das1*, Daisuke Iono2, Toshiki Saito2 and Smitha Subramanian1
1Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India
2University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

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Abstract

Since the early redshift surveys of the large scale structure of our universe, it has become clear that galaxies cluster along walls, sheet and filaments leaving large, empty regions called voids between them. Although voids represent the most under dense parts of our universe, they do contain a sparse but significant population of isolated galaxies that are generally low luminosity, late type disk galaxies. Recent studies show that most void galaxies have ongoing star formation and are in an early stage of evolution. We present radio, optical studies of the molecular gas content and star formation in a sample of void galaxies. Using SDSS data, we find that AGN are rare in these systems and are found only in the Bootes void; their black hole masses and radio properties are similar to bright spirals galaxies. Our studies suggest that close galaxy interactions and gas accretion are the main drivers of galaxy evolution in these systems despite their location in the underdense environment of the voids.



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Keywords : galaxies – active galactic nuclei – molecular gas – star formation – voids