The KMOS^3D Survey: design, first results, and the evolution of galaxy kinematics from 0.7<z<2.7

TL;DR

The KMOS^3D survey provides new integral field data on over 600 galaxies between redshifts 0.7 and 2.7, revealing that most star-forming galaxies are rotation-dominated disks with evolving velocity dispersions consistent with theoretical models.

Contribution

This study presents the first large, homogeneous kinematic survey of galaxies over 5 Gyrs of cosmic history, demonstrating the prevalence of rotating disks and their velocity dispersion evolution.

Findings

83% of resolved galaxies are rotation-dominated.

At least 70% of resolved galaxies are disk-like.

Velocity dispersions decrease from 50 km/s at z~2.3 to 25 km/s at z~0.9.

Abstract

We present the KMOS^3D survey, a new integral field survey of over 600 galaxies at 0.7<z<2.7 using KMOS at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The KMOS^3D survey utilizes synergies with multi-wavelength ground and space-based surveys to trace the evolution of spatially-resolved kinematics and star formation from a homogeneous sample over 5 Gyrs of cosmic history. Targets, drawn from a mass-selected parent sample from the 3D-HST survey, cover the star formation-stellar mass ($M_*$) and rest-frame $(U-V)-M_*$ planes uniformly. We describe the selection of targets, the observations, and the data reduction. In the first year of data we detect Halpha emission in 191 $M_*=3\times10^{9}-7\times10^{11}$ Msun galaxies at z=0.7-1.1 and z=1.9-2.7. In the current sample 83% of the resolved galaxies are rotation-dominated, determined from a continuous velocity gradient and $v_{rot}/\sigma>1$, implying that the star-forming 'main sequence' (MS) is primarily composed of rotating galaxies at both redshift regimes. When considering additional stricter criteria, the Halpha kinematic maps indicate at least ~70% of the resolved galaxies are disk-like systems. Our high-quality KMOS data confirm the elevated velocity dispersions reported in previous IFS studies at z>0.7. For rotation-dominated disks, the average intrinsic velocity dispersion decreases by a factor of two from 50 km/s at z~2.3 to 25 km/s at z~0.9 while the rotational velocities at the two redshifts are comparable. Combined with existing results spanning z~0-3, disk velocity dispersions follow an approximate (1+z) evolution that is consistent with the dependence of velocity dispersion on gas fractions predicted by marginally-stable disk theory.