RESULTS OF A SEARCH FOR EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES TOWARDS NEARBY VOIDS -THE SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION (VOL 325, PG 881, 1997)

We present the results of a search for emission-line galaxies (ELGs) t owards nearby voids, based on a sample selected on the HQS (Hamburg Qu asar Survey)(Hagen et al. 1995) -III-aJ objective-prism plates. The su rvey was based on the presence of emission-lines and therefore has the advantage to detect very faint objects (with all the flux in the emis sion-lines and almost no continuum), that would be missed by an appare nt magnitude limited survey. We found objects as faint as B=20.5 and M -B = (-15.0, -12.0). The relevant brightness parameters of the sample are: (1) the sum of the flux in the emission-lines and of the continuu m Aux under the line, and (2) the equivalent widths (EW); the correspo nding completeness limits are 6.7 x 10-(14) erg sec(-1)cm(-2) and 8 An gstrom, respectively. The observational data are given in Popescu et a l. (1996) and in the present paper we consider a complete subsample fr om these data. We analyse the spatial distribution of our sample of EL Gs in comparison with the distribution of normal galaxies. Overall bot h distributions trace the same structures. Nevertheless we also found a few ELGs in voids, from which at least 8 lie in the very well define d nearby voids. The isolated galaxies seem to form fainter structures that devide the larger voids into smaller ones. From our estimates of the expected number of void galaxies we conclude that we did not find an underlying homogenous void population.