A forming disk at z~0.6: Collapse of a gaseous disk or major merger remnant?

TL;DR

This study investigates a high-redshift galaxy with unusual gas and star distributions, analyzing whether it is a forming disk or a merger remnant, and finds evidence favoring a recent merger scenario due to observed asymmetries and turbulence.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed multi-wavelength observations and compares two formation scenarios, concluding that the galaxy is more likely a merger remnant rather than a newly formed disk.

Findings

Decoupled gas and star distributions in the galaxy.

Excess velocity dispersion indicating turbulence.

Evidence supporting a recent gas-rich merger.

Abstract

[Abridged] We present and analyze observations of J033241.88-274853.9 at z=0.6679, using multi-wavelength photometry and imaging with FLAMES/GIRAFFE 3D spectroscopy. J033241.88-274853.9 is found to be a blue, young (~320Myr) stellar disk embedded in a very gas-rich (fgas=73-82% with log(Mstellar/Mo)=9.45) and turbulent phase that is found to be rotating on large spatial scales. We identified two unusual properties of J033241.88-274853.9. (1) The spatial distributions of the ionized gaseous and young stars show a strong decoupling; while almost no stars can be detected in the southern part down to the very deep detection limit of ACS/UDF images, significant emission from the [OII] ionized gas is detected. (2) We detect an excess of velocity dispersion in the southern part of J033241.88-274853.9 in comparison to expectations from a rotating disk model. We considered two disk formation scenarios, depending on the gaseous phase geometry. In the first one, we examined whether J033241.88-274853.9 could be a young rotating disk that has been recently collapsed from a pre-existing, very gas-rich rotating disk. This scenario requires two (unknown) additional assumptions to explain the decoupling between the distribution of stars and gas and the excess of velocity dispersion in the same region. In a second scenario, we examine whether J033241.88-274853.9 could be a merger remnant of two gas-rich disks. In this case, the asymmetry observed between the gas and star distributions, as well as the excess of velocity dispersion, find a common explanation. Shocks produced during the merger in this region can be ionized easily and heat the gas while preventing star formation. This makes this scenario more satisfactory than the collapse of a pre-existing, gas-rich rotating disk.