High star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies

Details High star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies High star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies

2010-10-06

arxiv.org/abs/1010.1262v2

Nature (2010) 467, 684

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Galaxy Astrophysics

9 pages, 2 figures, Supplimentary Info available at: http://pulsar.swin.edu.au/~agreen/nature/sigma_mean_arXiv.pdf. Accepted f

Scientific paper

10.1038/nature09452

High spatial and spectral resolution observations of star formation and kinematics in early galaxies have shown that two-thirds are massive rotating disk galaxies with the remainder being less massive non-rotating objects. The line of sight averaged velocity dispersions are typically five times higher than in today's disk galaxies. This has suggested that gravitationally-unstable, gas-rich disks in the early Universe are fuelled by cold, dense accreting gas flowing along cosmic filaments and penetrating hot galactic gas halos. However these accreting flows have not been observed, and cosmic accretion cannot power the observed level of turbulence. Here we report on a new sample of rare high-velocity-dispersion disk galaxies we have discovered in the nearby Universe where cold accretion is unlikely to drive their high star-formation rates. We find that the velocity dispersion is most fundamentally correlated with their star-formation rates, and not their mass nor gas fraction, which leads to a new picture where star formation itself is the energetic driver of galaxy disk turbulence at all cosmic epochs.

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