The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies

C. Welker; J. Bland-Hawthorn; J. van De Sande; C. Lagos; P. Elahi; D. Obreschkow; J. Bryant; C. Pichon; L. Cortese; S. N. Richards; S. M. Croom; M. Goodwin; J. S. Lawrence; S. Sweet; A. Lopez-Sanchez; A. Medling; M. S. Owers; Y. Dubois; J. devriendt

doi:10.1093/mnras/stz2860

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies

C. Welker^*, J. Bland-Hawthorn, J. van De Sande, C. Lagos, P. Elahi, D. Obreschkow, J. Bryant, C. Pichon, L. Cortese, S. N. Richards, S. M. Croom, M. Goodwin, J. S. Lawrence, S. Sweet, A. Lopez-Sanchez, A. Medling, M. S. Owers, Y. Dubois, J. devriendt

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

67 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present the first detection of mass-dependent galactic spin alignments with local cosmic filaments with >2σ confidence using IFS kinematics. The 3D network of cosmic filaments is reconstructed on Mpc scales across GAlaxy and Mass Assembly fields using the cosmic web extractor DISPERSE. We assign field galaxies from the SAMI survey to their nearest filament segment in 3D and estimate the degree of alignment between SAMI galaxies' kinematic spin axis and their nearest filament in projection. Low-mass galaxies align their spin with their nearest filament while higher mass counterparts are more likely to display an orthogonal orientation. The stellar transition mass from the first trend to the second is bracketed between 10^10.4, 10^10.9 M_⊙, with hints of an increase with filament scale. Consistent signals are found in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. This supports a scenario of early angular momentum build-up in vorticity rich quadrants around filaments at low stellar mass followed by progressive flip of spins orthogonal to the cosmic filaments through mergers at high stellar mass. Conversely, we show that dark matter only simulations post-processed with a semi-analytical model treatment of galaxy formation struggles to reproduce this alignment signal. This suggests that gas physics is key in enhancing the galaxy-filament alignment.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2864-2884
Number of pages	21
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	491
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2860
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2020

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Welker, C., Bland-Hawthorn, J., van De Sande, J., Lagos, C., Elahi, P., Obreschkow, D., Bryant, J., Pichon, C., Cortese, L., Richards, S. N., Croom, S. M., Goodwin, M., Lawrence, J. S., Sweet, S., Lopez-Sanchez, A., Medling, A., Owers, M. S., Dubois, Y., & devriendt, J. (2020). The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 491(2), 2864-2884. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2860

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title = "The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies",

abstract = "We present the first detection of mass-dependent galactic spin alignments with local cosmic filaments with >2σ confidence using IFS kinematics. The 3D network of cosmic filaments is reconstructed on Mpc scales across GAlaxy and Mass Assembly fields using the cosmic web extractor DISPERSE. We assign field galaxies from the SAMI survey to their nearest filament segment in 3D and estimate the degree of alignment between SAMI galaxies' kinematic spin axis and their nearest filament in projection. Low-mass galaxies align their spin with their nearest filament while higher mass counterparts are more likely to display an orthogonal orientation. The stellar transition mass from the first trend to the second is bracketed between 1010.4, 1010.9 M⊙, with hints of an increase with filament scale. Consistent signals are found in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. This supports a scenario of early angular momentum build-up in vorticity rich quadrants around filaments at low stellar mass followed by progressive flip of spins orthogonal to the cosmic filaments through mergers at high stellar mass. Conversely, we show that dark matter only simulations post-processed with a semi-analytical model treatment of galaxy formation struggles to reproduce this alignment signal. This suggests that gas physics is key in enhancing the galaxy-filament alignment.",

keywords = "Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: formation, Galaxies: interactions, Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, Methods: numerical",

author = "C. Welker and J. Bland-Hawthorn and {van De Sande}, J. and C. Lagos and P. Elahi and D. Obreschkow and J. Bryant and C. Pichon and L. Cortese and Richards, {S. N.} and Croom, {S. M.} and M. Goodwin and Lawrence, {J. S.} and S. Sweet and A. Lopez-Sanchez and A. Medling and Owers, {M. S.} and Y. Dubois and J. devriendt",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Author(s).",

year = "2020",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stz2860",

language = "English",

volume = "491",

pages = "2864--2884",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

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Welker, C, Bland-Hawthorn, J, van De Sande, J, Lagos, C, Elahi, P, Obreschkow, D, Bryant, J, Pichon, C, Cortese, L, Richards, SN, Croom, SM, Goodwin, M, Lawrence, JS, Sweet, S, Lopez-Sanchez, A, Medling, A, Owers, MS, Dubois, Y & devriendt, J 2020, 'The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 491, no. 2, pp. 2864-2884. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2860

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies. / Welker, C.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; van De Sande, J. et al.
In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 491, No. 2, 01.01.2020, p. 2864-2884.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - The SAMI Galaxy Survey

T2 - First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies

AU - Welker, C.

AU - Bland-Hawthorn, J.

AU - van De Sande, J.

AU - Lagos, C.

AU - Elahi, P.

AU - Obreschkow, D.

AU - Bryant, J.

AU - Pichon, C.

AU - Cortese, L.

AU - Richards, S. N.

AU - Croom, S. M.

AU - Goodwin, M.

AU - Lawrence, J. S.

AU - Sweet, S.

AU - Lopez-Sanchez, A.

AU - Medling, A.

AU - Owers, M. S.

AU - Dubois, Y.

AU - devriendt, J.

PY - 2020/1/1

Y1 - 2020/1/1

N2 - We present the first detection of mass-dependent galactic spin alignments with local cosmic filaments with >2σ confidence using IFS kinematics. The 3D network of cosmic filaments is reconstructed on Mpc scales across GAlaxy and Mass Assembly fields using the cosmic web extractor DISPERSE. We assign field galaxies from the SAMI survey to their nearest filament segment in 3D and estimate the degree of alignment between SAMI galaxies' kinematic spin axis and their nearest filament in projection. Low-mass galaxies align their spin with their nearest filament while higher mass counterparts are more likely to display an orthogonal orientation. The stellar transition mass from the first trend to the second is bracketed between 1010.4, 1010.9 M⊙, with hints of an increase with filament scale. Consistent signals are found in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. This supports a scenario of early angular momentum build-up in vorticity rich quadrants around filaments at low stellar mass followed by progressive flip of spins orthogonal to the cosmic filaments through mergers at high stellar mass. Conversely, we show that dark matter only simulations post-processed with a semi-analytical model treatment of galaxy formation struggles to reproduce this alignment signal. This suggests that gas physics is key in enhancing the galaxy-filament alignment.

AB - We present the first detection of mass-dependent galactic spin alignments with local cosmic filaments with >2σ confidence using IFS kinematics. The 3D network of cosmic filaments is reconstructed on Mpc scales across GAlaxy and Mass Assembly fields using the cosmic web extractor DISPERSE. We assign field galaxies from the SAMI survey to their nearest filament segment in 3D and estimate the degree of alignment between SAMI galaxies' kinematic spin axis and their nearest filament in projection. Low-mass galaxies align their spin with their nearest filament while higher mass counterparts are more likely to display an orthogonal orientation. The stellar transition mass from the first trend to the second is bracketed between 1010.4, 1010.9 M⊙, with hints of an increase with filament scale. Consistent signals are found in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. This supports a scenario of early angular momentum build-up in vorticity rich quadrants around filaments at low stellar mass followed by progressive flip of spins orthogonal to the cosmic filaments through mergers at high stellar mass. Conversely, we show that dark matter only simulations post-processed with a semi-analytical model treatment of galaxy formation struggles to reproduce this alignment signal. This suggests that gas physics is key in enhancing the galaxy-filament alignment.

KW - Galaxies: evolution

KW - Galaxies: formation

KW - Galaxies: interactions

KW - Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

KW - Methods: numerical

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079609222&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stz2860

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stz2860

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 491

SP - 2864

EP - 2884

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 2

ER -

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies

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