Ionized gas kinematics of galaxies in the CALIFA survey I: Velocity fields, kinematic parameters of the dominant component, and presence of kinematically distinct gaseous systems

TL;DR

This study characterizes the ionized gas kinematics in 177 CALIFA survey galaxies, revealing diverse velocity fields, kinematic peculiarities, and multiple gaseous components, providing valuable criteria for galaxy study selection.

Contribution

First comprehensive analysis of ionized gas kinematics in CALIFA galaxies, identifying kinematic features and complexities without assuming internal motion models.

Findings

Most galaxies show regular velocity fields.

35% exhibit displacement between photometric and kinematic centers.

Presence of kinematically distinct gaseous components detected.

Abstract

This work provides an overall characterization of the kinematic behavior of the ionized gas of the galaxies included in the Calar Alto Legacy Integral field Area (CALIFA), offering kinematic clues to potential users of this survey for including kinematical criteria for specific studies. From the first 200 galaxies observed by CALIFA, we present the 2D kinematic view of the 177 galaxies satisfying a gas detection threshold. After removing the stellar contribution, we used the cross-correlation technique to obtain the radial velocity of the dominant gaseous component. The main kinematic parameters were directly derived from the radial velocities with no assumptions on the internal motions. Evidence of the presence of several gaseous components with different kinematics were detected by using [OIII] profiles. Most objects in the sample show regular velocity fields, although the ionized-gas kinematics are rarely consistent with simple coplanar circular motions. 35% of the objects present evidence of a displacement between the photometric and kinematic centers larger than the original spaxel radii. Only 17% of the objects in the sample exhibit kinematic lopsidedness when comparing receding and approaching sides of the velocity fields, but most of them are interacting galaxies exhibiting nuclear activity. Early-type galaxies in the sample present clear photometric-kinematic misaligments. There is evidence of asymmetries in the emission line profiles suggesting the presence of kinematically distinct gaseous components at different distances from the nucleus. This work constitutes the first determination of the ionized gas kinematics of the galaxies observed in the CALIFA survey. The derived velocity fields, the reported kinematic peculiarities and the identification of the presence of several gaseous components might be used as additional criteria for selecting galaxies for specific studies.