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Abstract

We present low-resolution Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array D-configuration HI spectral line observations of 32 previously unobserved local-volume low-mass dwarf galaxies in the Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs (SHIELD). SHIELD was designed to probe the physical characteristics of the objects that inhabit the faint end of the HI mass function as populated by the ALFALFA blind HI extragalactic survey. These low angular-resolution images localize the HI-gas and provide the first glimpse of the neutral interstellar medium in these sources. We quantify the total HI mass of each system, and, using SDSS imaging, we compare the HI and stellar morphologies. With a few exceptions, the HI-gas is found to be co-spatial with the optical centers of the galaxies. Three systems are shown to be undergoing gravitational interactions with nearby, more massive galaxies.

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