Neutral hydrogen clouds near early-type dwarf galaxies of the Local Group

Parkes neutral hydrogen 21 cm line (H I) observations of the surroundings of nine early-type Local Group dwarfs are presented. We detected numerous H-I clouds in the general direction of those dwarfs, and these clouds are often offset from the optical center of the galaxies. Although all the observed dwarfs, except Antlia, occupy phase-space regions where the high-velocity cloud (HVC) density is well above average, the measured offsets are smaller than one would expect from a fully random cloud distribution. Possible association is detected for 11 of the 16 investigated clouds, while for two galaxies, Sextans and Leo I, no H I was detected. The galaxies in which H I clouds were found not to coincide with the optical yet have a significant probability of being associated are the Sculptor dwarf, Tucana, LGS 3, Cetus, and Fornax. If the clouds are indeed associated, these galaxies have H I masses of M-H I 2 x 10(5), 2 x 10(6), 7 x 10(5) 7 x 10(5), and 1 x 10(5) M-circle dot, respectively. However, neither ram pressure nor tidal stripping can easily explain the offsets. In some cases, large offsets are found where ram pressure should be the least effective.