Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-08-18
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
10 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Replaced to match the version accepted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
We search for correlations between the spin in pairs of spiral galaxies, to study if the angular momentum gain for each galaxy was the result of tidal torques imprint by the same tidal field. To perform our study we made use of a sample of galaxy pairs identified using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find a weak, but statistically significant correlation between the spin magnitude of neighbouring galaxies, but no clear alignment between their orientation. We show that events such as interactions with close neighbours play an important role in the value of the spin for the final configuration, as we find these interactions tend to reduce the value of the $\lambda$ spin parameter of late-type galaxies considerably, with dependence on the morphology of the neighbour. This implies that the original tidal field for each pair could have been similar, but the redistribution of angular momentum at later stages of evolution is important.
Cervantes-Sodi Bernardo
Hernandez Xabier
Park Changbom
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