A search for H I in E + A galaxies

We present the results of H I line and radio continuum observations of five nearby E + A galaxies. These galaxies have spectra that are dominated by a young stellar component but lack the emission lines characteristic of significant ongoing star formation. They are selected from a unique sample of 21 E + A's identified by Zabludoff et al. in their spectroscopic search (published in 1996) for E + A galaxies using the Las Campanas Redshift Survey, in which over 11,000 nearby galaxies were examined. The five E + A galaxies span a range of environments: three are in the field, and two are in clusters. Only one system was detected in H I emission, the field E + A galaxy EA 1, with a total flux of 0.30 ± 0.02 Jy km s^-1 and an H I mass of 3.5 ± 0.2 × 10⁹ h^-2 M⊙. The H I morphology and kinematics of EA 1 suggest a galaxy-galaxy interaction, with a dynamical age of ∼6 × 10⁸ h^-1 yr inferred from the H I tail lengths and velocities. This age estimate is consistent with the interpretation drawn from optical spectroscopy that starbursts in E + A galaxies began (and subsequently ended) within the last 10⁹ yr. Our H I detection limits are such that if the other E + A's in our sample had the H I properties of EA 1, we would have detected (or marginally detected) them. We conclude that E + A galaxies have a range of H I properties. None of the galaxies were detected in radio continuum emission, with upper limits to the radio power of ∼10²¹ h^-2 W Hz^-1. Our limits exclude the possibility that these E + A's are dust-enshrouded massive starburst galaxies, but they are insufficient to exclude modest star formation rates of less than a few h^-2 M⊙ yr^-1.