Erik Tollerud

and 4 more

INTRODUCTION The properties of faint dwarf galaxies at or beyond the outer reaches of the Local Group (1 − 5 Mpc) probe the efficiency of environmentally driven galaxy formation processes and provide direct tests of cosmological predictions \citep[e.g., ][]{kl99ms, moo99ms, stri08commonmass, krav10satrev, kirby10, BKBK11, pontzen12, geha13}. However, searches for faint galaxies suffer from strong luminosity and surface brightness biases that render galaxies with LV ≲ 10⁶ L⊙ difficult to detect beyond the Local Group . Because of these biases, searching for nearby dwarf galaxies with methodologies beyond the standard optical star count methods are essential. This motivates searches for dwarf galaxies using the 21 cm emission line of neutral hydrogen (). While such searches cannot identify passive dwarf galaxies like most Local Group satellites, which lack , they have the potential to find gas-rich, potentially starforming dwarf galaxies. This is exemplified by the case of the Leo P dwarf galaxy, found first in and later confirmed via optical imaging . Here we describe two faint dwarf galaxies identified via emission in the first data release of the Galactic Arecibo L-band Feed Array (GALFA-HI) survey . As described below, they are likely within the Local Volume (<10 Mpc) but just beyond the Local Group (≳1 Mpc), so we refer to them as Pisces A and B. This paper is organized as follows: in Section [sec:data], we present the data used to identify these galaxies. In Section [sec:distance], we consider possible distance scenarios, while in Section [sec:conc] we provide context and some conclusions. Where relevant, we adopt a Hubble constant of $H_0=69.3 \; {\rm km \; s}^{-1}{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ from WMAP9 .