Star formation in dwarf galaxies with APERTIF

Betsey Adams 

This program will take advantage of the neutral hydrogen detections and radio continuum in the Apertif surveys to understand star formation in the lowest mass galaxies.  We will use the HI and radio continuum to extend the radio-star formation relation to lower masses and star formation rates, and connect to the reservoir of neutral gas.  We will also use the neutral hydrogen to identify field “ultra-diffuse” galaxies and connect their gas to their star formation, to understand if their (lack of) star formation is connected to their extreme low surface brightness nature.

The survey has two main science goals:

• 
Radio-star formation relation for dwarf galaxies: Extend the radio-star formation relation to low masses and star formation rate.
• Ultra-diffuse galaxies: Identify field ultra-diffuse galaxies and connect star formation to HI reservoir; also study baryonic Tully-Fisher.  Will also use HI-based rotation curves to identify galaxies with large angular momentum to see if they are “ultra-diffuse”.