MIGHTEE-HI: The direct detection of neutral hydrogen in galaxies at $z>0.25$

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Main Authors: Jarvis, Matt J., Tudorache, Madalina N., Heywood, I., Ponomareva, Anastasia A., Baes, M., Maddox, Natasha, Spekkens, Kristine, Varasteanu, Andreea, Hale, C. L., Santos, Mario G., Varadaraj, R. G., Adams, Elizabeth A. K., Bianchetti, Alessandro, Catinella, Barbara, Delhaize, Jacinta, Maksymowicz-Maciata, M., Piña, Pavel E. Mancera, Pan, Hengxing, Saintonge, Amélie, Sharma, Gauri, Wong, O. Ivy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Jarvis, Matt J.
Tudorache, Madalina N.
Heywood, I.
Ponomareva, Anastasia A.
Baes, M.
Maddox, Natasha
Spekkens, Kristine
Varasteanu, Andreea
Hale, C. L.
Santos, Mario G.
Varadaraj, R. G.
Adams, Elizabeth A. K.
Bianchetti, Alessandro
Catinella, Barbara
Delhaize, Jacinta
Maksymowicz-Maciata, M.
Piña, Pavel E. Mancera
Pan, Hengxing
Saintonge, Amélie
Sharma, Gauri
Wong, O. Ivy
author_facet Jarvis, Matt J.
Tudorache, Madalina N.
Heywood, I.
Ponomareva, Anastasia A.
Baes, M.
Maddox, Natasha
Spekkens, Kristine
Varasteanu, Andreea
Hale, C. L.
Santos, Mario G.
Varadaraj, R. G.
Adams, Elizabeth A. K.
Bianchetti, Alessandro
Catinella, Barbara
Delhaize, Jacinta
Maksymowicz-Maciata, M.
Piña, Pavel E. Mancera
Pan, Hengxing
Saintonge, Amélie
Sharma, Gauri
Wong, O. Ivy
contents Atomic hydrogen constitutes the gas reservoir from which molecular gas and star formation in galaxies emerges. However, the weakness of the line means it has been difficult to directly detect in all but the very local Universe. Here we present results from the first search using the MeerKAT International Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) Survey for high-redshift ($z>0.25$) H{\sc i} emission from individual galaxies. By searching for 21-cm emission centered on the position and redshift of optically-selected emission-line galaxies we overcome difficulties that hinder untargeted searches. We detect 11 galaxies at $z>0.25$, forming the first sample of $z>0.25$ detections with an interferometer, with the highest redshift detection at $z = 0.3841$. We find they have much larger H{\sc i} masses than their low-redshift H{\sc i}-selected counterparts for a given stellar mass. This can be explained by the much larger cosmological volume probed at these high redshifts, and does not require any evolution of the H{\sc i} mass function. We make the first-ever measurement of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (bTFr) with H{\sc i} at $z>0.25$ and find consistency with the local bTFr, but with tentative evidence of a flattening in the relation at these redshifts for higher-mass objects. This may signify evolution, in line with predictions from hydrodynamic simulations, or that the molecular gas mass in these high-mass galaxies could be significant. This study paves the way for future studies of H{\sc i} beyond the local Universe, using both searches targeted at known objects and via pure H{\sc i} selection.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_11935
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle MIGHTEE-HI: The direct detection of neutral hydrogen in galaxies at $z>0.25$
Jarvis, Matt J.
Tudorache, Madalina N.
Heywood, I.
Ponomareva, Anastasia A.
Baes, M.
Maddox, Natasha
Spekkens, Kristine
Varasteanu, Andreea
Hale, C. L.
Santos, Mario G.
Varadaraj, R. G.
Adams, Elizabeth A. K.
Bianchetti, Alessandro
Catinella, Barbara
Delhaize, Jacinta
Maksymowicz-Maciata, M.
Piña, Pavel E. Mancera
Pan, Hengxing
Saintonge, Amélie
Sharma, Gauri
Wong, O. Ivy
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Atomic hydrogen constitutes the gas reservoir from which molecular gas and star formation in galaxies emerges. However, the weakness of the line means it has been difficult to directly detect in all but the very local Universe. Here we present results from the first search using the MeerKAT International Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) Survey for high-redshift ($z>0.25$) H{\sc i} emission from individual galaxies. By searching for 21-cm emission centered on the position and redshift of optically-selected emission-line galaxies we overcome difficulties that hinder untargeted searches. We detect 11 galaxies at $z>0.25$, forming the first sample of $z>0.25$ detections with an interferometer, with the highest redshift detection at $z = 0.3841$. We find they have much larger H{\sc i} masses than their low-redshift H{\sc i}-selected counterparts for a given stellar mass. This can be explained by the much larger cosmological volume probed at these high redshifts, and does not require any evolution of the H{\sc i} mass function. We make the first-ever measurement of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (bTFr) with H{\sc i} at $z>0.25$ and find consistency with the local bTFr, but with tentative evidence of a flattening in the relation at these redshifts for higher-mass objects. This may signify evolution, in line with predictions from hydrodynamic simulations, or that the molecular gas mass in these high-mass galaxies could be significant. This study paves the way for future studies of H{\sc i} beyond the local Universe, using both searches targeted at known objects and via pure H{\sc i} selection.
title MIGHTEE-HI: The direct detection of neutral hydrogen in galaxies at $z>0.25$
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11935