SDSS-IV MaNGA: Integral-field kinematics and stellar population of a sample of galaxies with counter-rotating stellar disks selected from about 4000 galaxies

TL;DR

This study analyzes 64 galaxies with counter-rotating stellar disks from the MaNGA survey, revealing their properties, formation mechanisms, and the relationship between gas and stellar kinematics, with implications for galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed integral-field kinematic and stellar population analysis of counter-rotating disks in a large galaxy sample, highlighting their formation via gas accretion.

Findings

CRDs are rare, especially in spirals.

CRDs have similar age and metallicity trends to ETGs but differ at low masses.

Gas often co-rotates with the younger stellar disk.

Abstract

We present the integral-field kinematics and stellar population properties of 64 galaxies (61 are Early-Type galaxies, ETGs) with Counter-Rotating stellar Disks (CRD) selected from about 4000 galaxies in the MaNGA survey, based on evidence of counter-rotation or two velocity dispersion peaks in the kinematic maps. For 17 CRDs, the counter-rotating components can also be separated spectroscopically. The frequency of CRDs in MaNGA is <5% for ellipticals, <3% for lenticulars and <1% for spirals (at 95% confidence level), consistent with previous estimates. We produced age and metallicity maps, and compared the stellar population properties to those of the general ETGs population. We found that CRDs have similar trends in age and metallicity to ETGs, but are less metallic at low masses, and show flatter age and steeper metallicity gradients, on average. A comparison of the velocity fields of the ionized gas and the stars reveals that in 33 cases the gas corotates with either the inner (15 cases) or outer (18 cases) stellar disk, in 9 cases it is misaligned. In most cases the gas corotates with the younger disk. Evidence of multimodality in the stellar population is found in 31 galaxies, while the 14 youngest and least massive galaxies show ongoing star formation; 14 galaxies, instead, exhibit unimodality, and are the oldest and most massive. As a general result, our work indicates that CRDs form primarily via gas accretion in retrograde rotation with respect to a pre-existing stellar disk.