Thijs van der Hulst
K. Stanonik, J.H. van Gorkom, R. van de Weygaert, E. Platen, M.A. Aragon Calvo, P.J.E. Peebles
HI in Void Galaxies: probing the lowest density environments
Cosmic voids are an essential ingredient of the cosmic web and may harbour a systematically different population of galaxies. We are conducting HI observations of several tens of galaxies in the deepest voids identified from the SDSS survey. Results for the first 15 galaxies indicate that void galaxies do appear to have significantly different properties, apparently residing in a more youthful state of star formation and possessing larger and less distorted supplies of gas than their counterparts in denser environments. A surprising result is the discovery of a galaxy with a large polar disk in a tenuous wall between voids. Its properties indicate that such systems can form by slow accretion.