Studying Galaxy Formation in Loose Galaxy Groups

Abstract

We present the results of our HI survey of six loose groups of galaxies analogous to the Local Group. The survey was conducted using the Parkes telescope and the Australia Telescope Compact Array to produce a census of all the gas-rich galaxies and analogs to the high-velocity clouds (HVCs) within these groups down to M(HI) < 10^7 M(sun) as a test of models of galaxy formation. We present the HI mass function and halo mass function of the loose groups and show that they are consistent with those of the Local Group. We discuss the possible role of HVCs in solving the ``missing satellite'' problem and discuss the implications of our observations for models of galaxy formation.

4 pages, To appear in the proceedings of the "Island Universes: Structure and Evolution of Disk Galaxies" conference held in Terschelling, Netherlands, July 2005, ed. R. de Jong (Springer: Dordrecht)