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Multiple gas acquisition events in galaxies with dual misaligned gas disks

Nature Astronomy volume 6, pages 1464–1472 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Frequent accretion of external cold gas is thought to play an important role in galaxy assembly. However, almost all known kinematically misaligned galaxies identify only one gas disk that is misaligned with the stellar disk, implying a single gas acquisition event. Here we report a new configuration in two galaxies where both contain two gas disks misaligned with each other and also with the stellar disk. Such systems are not expected to be stable or long-lasting, challenging the traditional picture of gas accretion of galaxies and their angular momentum build-up. The differences in kinematic position angles are larger than 120° between the two gas disks, and 40° between each gas disk and the stellar component. The star formation activity is enhanced at the interface of the two gas disks compared with the other regions within the same galaxy. Such systems illustrate that low-redshift galaxies can still experience multiple gas acquisition events, and provide a new view into the origins of galactic gas.

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Fig. 1: Kinematics of the two gas–gas misaligned galaxies.
Fig. 2: SFRs versus stellar masses.
Fig. 3: Enhanced star formation at the interface of the two gas disks.
Fig. 4: Gas-phase metallicity of the two galaxies.
Fig. 5: Three dimensional configuration of two gas disks.
Fig. 6: Line-of-sight velocity curves and modelling the Hα emission line.

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Data availability

The MPL-11 data (including all the MPL-10 data) that support the findings of this paper are available through SDSS Data Release 17 that can be downloaded from https://www.sdss.org/dr17/manga/. The multi-waveband images from DESI Legacy Surveys can be downloaded from https://www.legacysurvey.org/.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Xu, S. Feng, T. Wang and M. Xiao for helpful discussion and comments. Y.M.C. acknowledges support from the National Key Research and Development Programme of China (grant No. 2017YFA0402700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant Nos. 11922302, 11733002 and 12121003) and the China Manned Space Project (grant No. CMS-CSST-2021-A05). A.M. acknowledges support from the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences government contract approved by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. D.B. acknowledges partial support from the Russian Science Foundation (grant No. 22-12-00080). J.G.F-T. acknowledges support from Proyecto Fondecyt Iniciación (grant No. 11220340), ANID Concurso de Fomento a la Vinculación Internacional para Instituciones de Investigación Regionales Proyecto (grant No. FOVI210020) and the Joint Committee ESO-Government of Chile 2021 (grant No. ORP 023/2021). R.R. acknowledges support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Proj. 311223/2020-6, 304927/2017-1 and 400352/2016-8), Fundação de amparo à pesquisa do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS, Proj. 16/2551-0000251-7 and 19/1750-2) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Proj. 0001). Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the US Department of Energy Office of Science and the participating institutions. SDSS-IV acknowledges support and resources from the Centre for High Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS website is www.sdss.org. SDSS-IV is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS Collaboration including the Brazilian Participation Group, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian, the Chilean Participation Group, the French Participation Group, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, The Johns Hopkins University, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe/University of Tokyo, the Korean Participation Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Leibniz Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Heidelberg), Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik (Garching), Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, National Astronomical Observatories of China, New Mexico State University, New York University, University of Notre Dame, Observatário Nacional/MCTI, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, United Kingdom Participation Group, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of Arizona, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University and Yale University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Xiao Cao, Yan-Mei Chen, Yong Shi, Min Bao & Song-Lin Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing, China

    Xiao Cao, Yan-Mei Chen, Yong Shi, Min Bao & Song-Lin Li

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Astronomy and Space Exploration, Nanjing, China

    Xiao Cao, Yan-Mei Chen, Yong Shi, Min Bao & Song-Lin Li

  4. School of Physics and Technology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China

    Min Bao

  5. Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Arkhyz, Russia

    Alexei Moiseev

  6. Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Alexei Moiseev & Dmitry Bizyaev

  7. Apache Point Observatory and New Mexico State University, Sunspot, NM, USA

    Dmitry Bizyaev

  8. Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile

    José G. Fernández-Trincado

  9. Departamento de Física, CCNE, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil

    Rogemar A. Riffel

  10. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Rogemar A. Riffel & Rogério Riffel

  11. Departamento de Astronomia, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Rogério Riffel

  12. Centro de Investigación en Astronomía, Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins, Santiago, Chile

    Richard R. Lane

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Contributions

X.C. made the plots and led the writing of the very preliminary version of the draft manuscript. Y.-M.C. discovered these two galaxies and conceived the project. Y.-M.C. and Y.S. suggested the physical pictures discussed in this paper and edited the manuscript. M.B. helped in fitting the disk models. A.M., D.B., S.-L.L., J.G.F.-T., R.A.R., R.R. and R.R.L. were involved in the comments in the manuscript and the interpretation of the results.

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Correspondence to Yan-Mei Chen.

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Cao, X., Chen, YM., Shi, Y. et al. Multiple gas acquisition events in galaxies with dual misaligned gas disks. Nat Astron 6, 1464–1472 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01788-8

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