Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-10-06
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Proceedings of the annual meeting of the French Astronomical Society, 2011, 6 pages, 1 Figure
Scientific paper
Using the deepest and the most complete set of observations of distant galaxies, we investigate how extended disks could have formed. Observations include spatially-resolved kinematics, detailed morphologies and photometry from UV to mid-IR. Six billion years ago, half of the present-day spiral progenitors had anomalous kinematics and morphologies, as well as relatively high gas fractions. We argue that gas-rich major mergers, i.e., fusions between gas-rich disk galaxies of similar mass, can be the likeliest driver for such strong peculiarities. This suggests a new channel of disk formation, e.g. many disks could be reformed after gas-rich mergers. This is found to be in perfect agreement with predictions from the state-of-the-art LCDM semi-empirical models: due to our sensitivity in detecting mergers at all phases, from pairs to relaxed post-mergers, we find a more accurate merger rate. The scenario can be finally confronted to properties of nearby galaxies, including M31 and galaxies showing ultra-faint, gigantic structures in their haloes.
Athanassoula Evangelia
Flores Hector
Fouquet Sylvain
Hammer Francçois
Puech Mathieu
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