xGASS: The scatter of the HI-halo mass relation of central galaxies

Empirical studies of the relationship between baryonic matter in galaxies and the gravitational potential of their host halos are important to constrain our theoretical framework for galaxy formation and evolution. One such relation, between the atomic hydrogen (HI) mass of central galaxies (M_HI,c) and the total mass of their host halos (M_halo), has attracted significant interest in the last few years. In this work, we use the extended GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey to examine the scatter of the HI-halo mass relation for a representative sample of central galaxies. Our findings reveal a flat median relation at log_10(M_HI,c/M_⊙) ≈ 9.40, across 11.1 < log_10(M_halo/M_⊙) < 14.1. This flat relation stems from the statistical dominance of star-forming, disc galaxies at low M_halo in combination with the increasing prevalence of passive, high stellar-concentration systems at higher M_halo. The scatter of this relation and the stellar specific angular momentum of centrals have a strong link (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ≥ 0.5). Comparisons with simulations suggest that the kinematic state of host halos may be primarily driving this scatter. Our findings highlight that the HI-halo mass parameter space is too complex to be completely represented by simple median or average relations and we show that tensions with previous works are most likely due to selection biases. We recommend that future observational studies, and their comparisons with theoretical models, bin central galaxies also by their secondary properties to enable a statistically robust understanding of the processes regulating the cold gas content within central galaxies of dark-matter halos.