Dwarfs in Void Environments (DIVE): The Stellar Kinematics of Void Dwarf Galaxies Using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager

Abstract

Dwarf galaxies located in extremely underdense cosmic voids are excellent test beds for disentangling the effects of large-scale environments on galaxy formation and evolution. We present the first results of the Dwarfs in Void Environments Survey, which has obtained integral field spectroscopy for low-mass galaxies (M ⋆ = 107–109 M ⊙) located inside (N = 21) and outside (N = 9) cosmic voids using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager. Using measurements of stellar line-of-sight rotational velocity v rot and velocity dispersion σ ⋆, we test the tidal stirring hypothesis, which posits that dwarf spheroidal galaxies are formed through tidal interactions with more massive host galaxies. We measure low values of v rot/σ ⋆ ≲ 2 for our sample of isolated dwarf galaxies, and we find no trend between v rot/σ ⋆ and the distance from a massive galaxy out to Mpc. These suggest that dwarf galaxies can become dispersion-supported, “puffy” systems even in the absence of environmental effects like tidal interactions. We also find indications of an upward trend between v rot/σ ⋆ and galaxy stellar mass, perhaps implying that stellar disk formation depends on mass rather than environment. Although some of our conclusions may be slightly modified by systematic effects, our main result still holds: that isolated low-mass galaxies may form and remain as puffy systems rather than the dynamically cold disks predicted by classical galaxy formation theory.