GMRT study of extremely faint dwarf irregular galaxies

We present results of deep, high velocity resolution (∼1.6 kms−1) Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) HI 21 cm-line observations of a sample of extremely faint (MB > −12.5) dwarf irregular galaxies. Unlike previous studies, we find large scale velocity gradients in even the faintest galaxies of our sample i.e. their velocity fields are not “chaotic”. For some of our sample galaxies, where the velocity fields are in fact completely consistent with ordered rotation, we derive rotation curves and determine the structure of the dark matter halos of the galaxies from mass modeling, using the “asymmetric drift” corrected rotation velocities. Finally, we compile from literature a sample of galaxies with known dark matter distribution, estimated from HI synthesis observations, and discuss the results and their implications for hierarchical galaxy formation models.