The H I Companions of H II Galaxies and Low Surface Brightness Dwarf Galaxies

摘要

I study the VLA H I survey of H II galaxies by Taylor et al. and the VLA H I survey of low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxies by Taylor et al. to investigate the role of galaxy interactions in triggering the bursts of massive star formation seen in H II galaxies. Comparing the two surveys, I find that H II galaxies have companions more than twice as often as LSB dwarfs (p = 0.57 for H II galaxies, compared to p = 0.24 for LSB dwarfs). I examine the completeness of the companion samples detected by the two surveys. For the companions to H II galaxies, the sample is likely complete in the distribution of velocity separations from their parent galaxies but is probably missing some companions at large projected linear separations because of the finite size of the VLA primary beam.