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arXiv · 2607.21034

A RELHIC twin candidate near the galaxy M51

Qingze Chen·Jie Wang·Yingjie Jing·Chen Xu·Tiantian Liang·Zerui Liu·Zhipeng Hou·Yiwei Xu·Cheng Cheng·Wei Du
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Abstract

We report the discovery of a pair of H I clouds near M51 (NGC 5194) using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). These clouds have no optical counterparts and are potential candidates for Reionization-Limited H I Clouds (RELHICs). We search for compact H I sources in deep FEASTS observations using SoFiA and remove objects with optical counterparts through cross-matching with the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. The remaining candidates are modelled as hydrostatic H I structures embedded in Navarro-Frenk-White dark matter haloes and compared with RELHIC predictions and TNG50 simulations. We identify two H I clouds, Cloud S and Cloud N, at projected distances of 70--90 kpc from M51. Each cloud has an H I mass of approximately 10^6.5 solar masses, a velocity dispersion of about 20 km/s, and no detectable optical counterpart down to a g-band surface brightness limit of approximately 27.5 mag arcsec^-2. Their stellar luminosities are constrained to be below 10^5 solar luminosities. Their H I properties are consistent with RELHIC predictions, corresponding to host halo masses of 3.7 +- 0.4 * 10^9 solar masses. Cloud S and Cloud N are promising but not definitive RELHIC candidates. A tidal origin remains possible in the interacting M51 system, especially because the clouds are unresolved by FAST and Cloud N may show a velocity gradient. Future high-resolution interferometric observations will be crucial for distinguishing between starless dark matter haloes and tidal debris.

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Qingze Chen, Jie Wang, Yingjie Jing, Chen Xu, Tiantian Liang, Zerui Liu, Zhipeng Hou, Yiwei Xu, Cheng Cheng, Wei Du. 2026-07-23. A RELHIC twin candidate near the galaxy M51. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.21034

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