Presentation #145.05 in the session Dwarf and Irregular Galaxies — iPoster Session.
Analyses of pair galaxy interactions provide a critical picture of dynamics influencing gas and stellar buildup in low-mass, metal-poor, gas-rich environments. Previous probing of low-redshift TiNY Titans dwarf galaxy pairs (107 M⊙ < M < 109.7 M⊙; 8.0 < Z < 8.9) via the Sloan Digital Sky Survey found enhanced star formation rates with separation distances Rsep < ~100 kpc. Whether this star formation is a result of an increased H2 mass or efficiency in which the H2 is converted to stars remains unclear. For the first time, via dust continuum and CO (2 ->1) tracers, we present ALMA Atacama Compact Array molecular gas quantities of these dwarf galaxy pair systems with close separations (6 kpc < Rsep < 48 kpc). CO is detected in four galaxies, and an application of both metallicity dependent and Milky Way accepted αCO = 4.3 M⊙ (K km s-1 pc2)-1 results in molecular gas calculations of ~108 M⊙. We calculate 3σ upper limits of the remaining systems to be less than 106 — 108 M⊙. A comparison of molecular gas and stellar formation rate to the xCOLDGASS (1011.5 M⊙ < M < 109 M⊙) data set does not identify higher H2 nor efficiency in these dwarfs. This preliminary study thus demonstrates the feasibility of measuring H2 reservoirs in dwarf galaxy pairs, with future studies aimed at constraining molecular gas mass at lower metallicity environments.