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28 March 2024 |
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Article overview
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The MASSIVE Survey - X. Stellar Velocity Features and Misalignment between Kinematic and Photometric Axes in Massive Early-Type Galaxies | Irina Ene
; Chung-Pei Ma
; Melanie Veale
; Jenny E. Greene
; Jens Thomas
; John P. Blakeslee
; Jonelle L. Walsh
; Jennifer Ito
; | Date: |
31 Jan 2018 | Abstract: | We use spatially resolved two-dimensional stellar velocity maps over a
$107’’ imes 107’’$ field of view to investigate the kinematic features of 90
early-type galaxies above stellar mass $10^{11.5}M_odot$ in the MASSIVE
survey. We measure the misalignment angle $Psi$ between the kinematic and
photometric axes and identify local features such as velocity twists and
kinematically distinct components. We find 46% of the sample to be well aligned
($Psi < 15^{circ}$), 33% misaligned, and 21% without detectable rotation
(non-rotators). Only 24% of the sample are fast rotators, the majority of which
(91%) are aligned, whereas 57% of the slow rotators are misaligned with a
nearly flat distribution of $Psi$ from $15^{circ}$ to $90^{circ}$. We find
that 11 galaxies have $Psi gtrsim 60^{circ}$ and thus exhibit minor-axis
rotation (or "prolate" rotation) in which the rotation is preferentially around
the photometric major axis. We find kinematic misalignment to occur more
frequently for higher stellar mass, lower galaxy spin, lower ellipticity, or
denser galaxy environments. In terms of local kinematic features, 51% of the
sample exhibit kinematic twists of larger than $20^{circ}$, and 2 galaxies
have kinematically distinct components. The frequency of misalignment and the
broad distribution of $Psi$ reported here suggest that the most massive
early-type galaxies are likely to be at least mildly triaxial, and the
formation processes resulting in kinematically misaligned slow rotators such as
gas-poor mergers occur frequently in this mass range. | Source: | arXiv, 1802.0014 | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites |
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