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1. The Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs: A Multi-Wavelength Perspective on Low-Mass Galaxy Evolution

   Cannon, John M. ; McNichols, Andrew ; Teich, Yaron ; Adams, Elizabeth A. ; Giovanelli, Riccardo ; Haynes, Martha P. ; McQuinn, Kristen B. ; Salzer, John Joseph ; Skillman, Evan D. ; Dolphin, Andrew E. ; et al ( January 2017 , American Astronomical Society ... meeting)

   The “Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs” (SHIELD) is a multiwavelength study of local volume low-mass galaxies drawn from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) catalog. HST/Spitzer joint program GO-12658 revealed the stellar populations of the first 12 SHIELD galaxies (Cannon et al. 2011), allowing accurate distance measurements (McQuinn et al. 2014) and detailed studies of the patterns of recent star formation in each galaxy (McQuinn et al. 2015). These HST and Spitzer images are a critical interpretive benchmark for ground-based optical imaging and spectroscopy (Haurberg et al. 2015), as well as for sensitive VLA HI spectral line imaging of the SHIELD galaxies (McNichols et al. 2016; Teich et al. 2016). These results have furthered our understanding of the evolution of galaxies in a mass regime that was previously only sparsely populated. With the low-redshift ALFALFA catalog now complete, the scope of the SHIELD program has been expanded to include all 82 galaxies that meet distance, line width, and HI flux criteria for being gas-rich, low-mass galaxies. In HST program 13750, images of 18 more SHIELD galaxies have again set the physical scales for supporting HI spectral line imaging with both the VLA and the WSRT (Gordon et al. 2016). Taken as a whole, the ongoing SHIELD program is one of the most comprehensive multiwavelength studies of the physical properties of low-mass galaxies outside of the Local Group. 

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2. WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) survey: photometric and emission-line data release

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae911  

   Battisti, A. J. ; Bagley, M. B. ; Rafelski, M. ; Baronchelli, I. ; Dai, Y. S. ; Henry, A. L. ; Atek, H. ; Colbert, J. ; Malkan, M. A. ; McCarthy, P. J. ; et al ( April 2024 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   We present reduced images and catalogues of photometric and emission-line data (∼230 000 and ∼8000 sources, respectively) for the WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3) Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) survey. These data are made publicly available on the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes and include reduced images from various facilities: ground-based ugri, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3, and Spitzer IRAC (Infrared Array Camera). Coverage in at least one additional filter beyond the WFC3/IR data are available for roughly half of the fields (227 out of 483), with ∼20 per cent (86) having coverage in six or more filters from u band to IRAC 3.6 $\mu$m (0.35–3.6 $\mu$m). For the lower spatial resolution (and shallower) ground-based and IRAC data, we perform PSF (point spread function)-matched, prior-based, deconfusion photometry (i.e. forced-photometry) using the tphot software to optimally extract measurements or upper limits. We present the methodology and software used for the WISP emission-line detection and visual inspection. The former adopts a continuous wavelet transformation that significantly reduces the number of spurious sources as candidates before the visual inspection stage. We combine both WISP catalogues and perform spectral energy distribution fitting on galaxies with reliable spectroscopic redshifts and multiband photometry to measure their stellar masses. We stack WISP spectra as functions of stellar mass and redshift and measure average emission-line fluxes and ratios. We find that WISP emission-line sources are typically ‘normal’ star-forming galaxies based on the mass–excitation diagram ([O iii]/Hβ versus M⋆; 0.74 < zgrism < 2.31), the galaxy main sequence (SFR versus M⋆; 0.30 < zgrism < 1.45), S32 ratio versus M⋆ (0.30 < zgrism < 0.73), and O32 and R23 ratios versus M⋆ (1.27 < zgrism < 1.45).

    

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3. SHIELD: Observations of Three Candidate Interacting Systems

   Ruvolo, Elizabeth ; Miazzo, Masao ; Cannon, John M. ; McNichols, Andrew ; Teich, Yaron ; Adams, Elizabeth A. ; Giovanelli, Riccardo ; Haynes, Martha P. ; McQuinn, Kristen B. ; Salzer, John Joseph ; et al ( January 2017 , American Astronomical Society ... meeting)

   The “Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs” (SHIELD) is a multiwavelength study of local volume low-mass galaxies. Using the now-complete Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) source catalog, 82 systems are identified that meet distance, line width, and HI flux criteria for being gas-rich, low-mass galaxies. These systems harbor neutral gas reservoirs smaller than 3x10^7 M_sun, thus populating the faint end of the HI mass function with statistical confidence for the first time. In a companion poster, we present new Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array D-configuration HI spectral line observations of 32 previously unobserved galaxies. Three galaxies in that study have been discovered to lie in close angular proximity to more massive galaxies. Here we present VLA HI imaging of these candidate interacting systems. We compare the neutral gas morphology and kinematics with optical images from SDSS. We discuss the frequency of low-mass galaxies undergoing tidal interaction in the complete SHIELD sample.Support for this work was provided by NSF grant 1211683 to JMC at Macalester College. 

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4. SHIELD: EVLA HI Spectral Line Observations of Low-mass Dwarfs

   Miazzo, Masao ; Ruvolo, Elizabeth ; Cannon, John M. ; McNichols, Andrew ; Teich, Yaron ; Adams, Elizabeth A. ; Giovanelli, Riccardo ; Haynes, Martha P. ; McQuinn, Kristen B. ; Salzer, John Joseph ; et al ( January 2017 , American Astronomical Society ... meeting)

   The “Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs” (SHIELD) is a multiwavelength study of local volume low-mass galaxies. Using the now-complete Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) source catalog, 82 systems are identified that meet distance, line width, and HI flux criteria for being gas-rich, low-mass galaxies. These systems harbor neutral gas reservoirs smaller than 3x10^7 M_sun, thus populating the faint end of the HI mass function with statistical confidence for the first time. Here we present new Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array D-configuration HI spectral line observations of 32 previously unobserved galaxies. These low angular resolution (~40" beam) images localize the HI gas; with a few exceptions, the HI gas is co-spatial with the optical centers of the galaxies. These images provide the first glimpse of the neutral interstellar medium in these systems.Support for this work was provided by NSF grant 1211683 to JMC at Macalester College. 

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5. The extraplanar type II supernova ASASSN-14jb in the nearby edge-on galaxy ESO 467-G051

   https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834972  

   Meza, Nicolás ; Prieto, J. L. ; Clocchiatti, A. ; Galbany, L. ; Anderson, J. P. ; Falco, E. ; Kochanek, C. S. ; Kuncarayakti, H. ; Sánchez, S. F. ; Brimacombe, J. ; et al ( September 2019 , Astronomy & Astrophysics)

   We present optical photometry and spectroscopy of the Type II supernova ASASSN-14jb, together with Very Large Telescope (VLT) Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) integral field observations of its host galaxy and a nebular-phase spectrum. This supernova, in the nearby galaxy ESO 467-G051 ( z  = 0.006), was discovered and followed-up by the all-sky automated survey for supernovae (ASAS-SN). We obtained well-sampled las cumbres network (LCOGTN) B V g r i and Swift w 2 m 1 w 1 u b v optical, near-UV/optical light curves, and several optical spectra in the early photospheric phases. The transient ASASSN-14jb exploded ∼2 kpc above the star-forming disk of ESO 467-G051, an edge-on disk galaxy. The large projected distance from the disk of the supernova position and the non-detection of any H II region in a 1.4 kpc radius in projection are in conflict with the standard environment of core-collapse supernova progenitors and suggests the possible scenario that the progenitor received a kick in a binary interaction. We present analysis of the optical light curves and spectra, from which we derived a distance of 25 ± 2 Mpc using state-of-the-art empirical methods for Type II SNe, physical properties of the SN explosion ( 56 Ni mass, explosion energy, and ejected mass), and properties of the progenitor; namely the progenitor radius, mass, and metallicity. Our analysis yields a 56 Ni mass of 0.0210  ±  0.0025  M ⊙ , an explosion energy of ≈0.25 × 10 51 ergs, and an ejected mass of ≈6  M ⊙ . We also constrained the progenitor radius to be R *  = 580  ±  28  R ⊙ which seems to be consistent with the sub-Solar metallicity of 0.3  ±  0.1  Z ⊙ derived from the supernova Fe II λ 5018 line. The nebular spectrum constrains strongly the progenitor mass to be in the range 10–12 M ⊙ . From the Spitzer data archive we detect ASASSN-14jb ≈330 days past explosion and we derived a total dust mass of 10 −4   M ⊙ from the 3.6 μ m and 4.5 μ m photometry. Using the F U V , N U V , B V g r i , K s , 3.6 μ m, and 4.5 μ m total magnitudes for the host galaxy, we fit stellar population synthesis models, which give an estimate of M *  ≈ 1 × 10 9   M ⊙ , an age of 3.2 Gyr, and a SFR ≈0.07  M ⊙ yr −1 . We also discuss the low oxygen abundance of the host galaxy derived from the MUSE data, having an average of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.27 +0.16 −0.20 using the O 3 N 2 diagnostic with strong line methods. We compared it with the supernova spectra, which is also consistent with a sub-Solar metallicity progenitor. Following recent observations of extraplanar H II regions in nearby edge-on galaxies, we derived the metallicity offset from the disk, being positive, but consistent with zero at 2 σ , suggesting enrichment from disk outflows. We finally discuss the possible scenarios for the unusual environment for ASASSN-14jb and conclude that either the in-situ star formation or runaway scenario would imply a low-mass progenitor, agreeing with our estimate from the supernova nebular spectrum. Regardless of the true origin of ASASSN-14jb, we show that the detailed study of the environment roughly agree with the stronger constraints from the observation of the transient. 

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