The Relation Between Gas Accretion and Resolved Star Formation in Galaxies

Theory predicts that massive galaxies are surrounded by a reservoir of gas. In the absence of feedback effects from supernova or AGN, this gas should cool, accrete onto the galaxy and form stars. Without a continuous supply of gas, most star forming galaxies would run out of gas on timescale of a few Gyr [1]. This study focuses on a sample of unusually HI rich galaxies, which we hypothesize to have undergone recent gas accretaion. We ask whether we can find signature of this accretion process in the distribution of their light.