Halo Spin Dependence on Environment for HI-bearing galaxies

Abstract

Leveraging the semi-analytic method, we compute halo spins for a substantial sample of HI-bearing galaxies observed in the Arecibo Legacy Fast Alfa Survey. Our statistical analysis reveals a correlation between halo spin and environment, although the trend is subtle. On average, galaxies exhibit a decreasing halo spin tendency in denser environments. This observation contrasts with previous results from $N$-body simulations in the Lambda cold dark matter framework. The discrepancy may be attributed to environmental gas stripping, leading to an underestimation of halo spins in galaxies in denser environments, or to baryonic processes that significantly alter the original dark matter halo spins, deviating from previous $N$-body simulation findings.

Accepted for publication in RAA