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A giant galaxy in the young Universe with a massive ring

Nature Astronomy volume 4, pages 957–964 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

In the local (redshift z ≈ 0) Universe, collisional ring galaxies make up only ~0.01% of galaxies1 and are formed by head-on galactic collisions that trigger radially propagating density waves2,3,4. These striking systems provide key snapshots for dissecting galactic disks and are studied extensively in the local Universe5,6,7,8,9. However, not much is known about distant (z > 0.1) collisional rings10,11,12,13,14. Here we present a detailed study of a ring galaxy at a look-back time of 10.8 Gyr (z = 2.19). Compared with our Milky Way, this galaxy has a similar stellar mass, but has a stellar half-light radius that is 1.5–2.2 times larger and is forming stars 50 times faster. The extended, diffuse stellar light outside the star-forming ring, combined with a radial velocity on the ring and an intruder galaxy nearby, provides evidence for this galaxy hosting a collisional ring. If the ring is secularly evolved15,16, the implied large bar in a giant disk would be inconsistent with the current understanding of the earliest formation of barred spirals17,18,19,20,21. Contrary to previous predictions10,11,12, this work suggests that massive collisional rings were as rare 11 Gyr ago as they are today. Our discovery offers a unique pathway for studying density waves in young galaxies, as well as constraining the cosmic evolution of spiral disks and galaxy groups.

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Fig. 1: Multiwavelength views of R5519 and its neighbouring environment.
Fig. 2: A joint analysis of the MOSFIRE and OSIRIS ring kinematics.
Fig. 3: Comparing the size of R5519 with the size distribution of late-type galaxies at z ≈ 2.

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Data availability

The imaging data presented here are publicly available from the ZFOURGE survey website (http://zfourge.tamu.edu/) and from the 3D-HST archive (https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/3d-hst/). The spectroscopic data of this work were based on observations made with the Keck telescope from the W. M. Keck Observatory. The raw spectroscopic data can be accessed through the publicly available Keck Observatory Archive (https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/koa/public/koa.php). The reduced data and other data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The customized MOSFIRE spectroscopic fitting code used in this work can be found here (http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~tyuan/mosfit/). Scripts related to EAGLE simulations analysis in this paper are available from A.E. (ahmedagali70@gmail.com) on reasonable request. Other scripts related to the analysis in this paper are available from T.Y. on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

    Tiantian Yuan, Ivo Labbé, Glenn G. Kacprzak, Karl Glazebrook, Deanne B. Fisher & Sarah M. Sweet

  2. ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Tiantian Yuan, Ahmed Elagali, Glenn G. Kacprzak, Claudia del P. Lagos, Kim-Vy H. Tran, Karl Glazebrook, Brent A. Groves, Lee R. Spitler, Deanne B. Fisher & Sarah M. Sweet

  3. International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) M468, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia

    Ahmed Elagali, Claudia del P. Lagos & Brent A. Groves

  4. Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Copenhagen, Denmark

    Claudia del P. Lagos

  5. George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Leo Y. Alcorn, Jonathan H. Cohn & Kim-Vy H. Tran

  6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Leo Y. Alcorn

  7. School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Kim-Vy H. Tran

  8. Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Brent A. Groves & Kenneth C. Freeman

  9. Research Centre for Astronomy, Astrophysics & Astrophotonics, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Lee R. Spitler

  10. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Lee R. Spitler

  11. Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Ghent, Belgium

    Caroline M. S. Straatman

  12. School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Sarah M. Sweet

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Contributions

T.Y. wrote the manuscript and was the overall lead of the project. A.E. carried out the EAGLE simulation analysis and contributed to the writing of the simulation results. I.L., G.G.K. and C.d.P.L. contributed substantially to the overall science interpretation, data analysis and making of the figures. L.Y.A., J.H.C., K.-V.H.T. and K.G. contributed substantially to the photometric and kinematic data analysis. All other co-authors contributed to the interpretation and data analysis, and assisted with Keck observations. All co-authors commented on this manuscript as part of an internal review process.

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Correspondence to Tiantian Yuan.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Astronomy thanks Ronald J. Buta, Curtis Struck and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–16, Tables 1–4 and notes.

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Yuan, T., Elagali, A., Labbé, I. et al. A giant galaxy in the young Universe with a massive ring. Nat Astron 4, 957–964 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1102-7

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