H I in Shell Galaxies and Other Merger Remnants

Abstract

The few elliptical galaxies with detected H I almost all seem to have optical peculiarities as well, though these are often well hidden and require special image enhancement techniques to reveal them. In this paper we show several deep images of ellipticals with optical shells which are associated with HI, and suggest that mergers, or at least encounters with gas-rich galaxies, are responsible. We also show some disk galaxies with unusual faint extensions, some of them the kinds of interactions that may result in H I in ellipticals. These illustrations are drawn from an atlas of low surface brightness images of bright galaxies currently in preparation.