Rotation Curves in z~1-2 Star-Forming Disks: Comparison of Dark Matter Fractions and Disk Properties for Different Fitting Methods

TL;DR

This study analyzes the dynamics of 41 star-forming galaxies at z~1-2 using advanced kinematic modeling, confirming they are baryon-rich with low dark matter fractions, and compares 1D and 2D fitting methods.

Contribution

It introduces a robust MCMC-based kinematic fitting approach that accounts for observational effects and compares 1D and 2D analyses for high-redshift galaxies.

Findings

Galaxies are baryon-rich within one effective radius.

1D and 2D kinematic fits agree well for well-resolved galaxies.

Massive star-forming galaxies at z~1-2 have lower dark matter fractions.

Abstract

We present a follow-up analysis examining the dynamics and structures of 41 massive, large star-forming galaxies at z~0.67-2.45 using both ionized and molecular gas kinematics. We fit the galaxy dynamics with models consisting of a bulge, a thick, turbulent disk, and a NFW dark matter halo, using code that fully forward models the kinematics, including all observational and instrumental effects. We explore the parameter space using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling, including priors based on stellar and gas masses and disk sizes. We fit the full sample using extracted 1D kinematic profiles. For a subset of 14 well-resolved galaxies, we also fit the 2D kinematics. The MCMC approach robustly confirms the results from least-squares fitting presented in Paper I (Genzel et al. 2020): the sample galaxies tend to be baryon-rich on galactic scales (within one effective radius). The 1D and 2D MCMC results are also in good agreement for the subset, demonstrating that much of the galaxy dynamical information is captured along the major axis. The 2D kinematics are more affected by the presence of non-circular motions, which we illustrate by constructing a toy model with constant inflow for one galaxy that exhibits residual signatures consistent with radial motions. This analysis, together with results from Paper I and other studies, strengthens the finding that massive, star-forming galaxies at z~1-2 are baryon-dominated on galactic scales, with lower dark matter fractions towards higher baryonic surface densities. Finally, we present details of the kinematic fitting code used in this analysis.