Uncovering the origin of complex velocity distributions in edge-on disc galaxies
5 affiliations
- 1Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF ,
- 2Institute for Astronomy (IfA), University of Vienna , Türkenschanzstrasse 17, A-1180 Vienna ,
- 3Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , Calle Via Láctea s/n, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife ,
- 4Depto. Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna , Calle Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n, E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife ,
- 5Cardiff Hub for Astrophysics Research & Technology, School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University , Queens Buildings, Cardiff CF24 3AA ,
Abstract
Stellar line-of-sight velocity distributions are a powerful tool for studying galaxy kinematics and formation history, with multiple-peaked line-of-sight velocity distributions (LOSVDs) often indicating the presence of complex kinematic components. We extract stellar LOSVDs across the disc of a simulated spiral galaxy viewed edge-on, and study how often and why we see multiple-peaked LOSVDs. We find that the multiple-peaked LOSVDs are mainly found close to the mid-plane because they result from the presence of spiral arms. This is not because the spiral arms have significantly different kinematics to the disc, but because they correspond to overdensities. Variations in the number of arms present along a line of sight create variations in the number of peaks in LOSVDs. This can be used to quantify the strength of the spiral arms above the mid-plane, and how the thickness of spiral arms varies across the disc. We find that the commonly used fourth-order Gauss–Hermite moment, h4, is negative in the regions where there are multiple-peaked LOSVDs, and hence traces spiral arms. Finally, we discuss the observability of the multiple-peaked regions and their associated h4 measurements with current integral field spectrographs. We find that the spectral resolution of MUSE might not be high enough to uncover multiple peaks in LOSVDs when they result from spiral arms, but should allow for identification of the regions of negative h4. On the other hand, higher resolution spectrographs like KOALA and WEAVE may be able to recover multiple peaks in LOSVDs, representing a promising avenue for characterizing spiral arms in edge-on disc galaxies.
Versions
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BibTeX
@article{townson2026uncovering,
title = {{Uncovering the origin of complex velocity distributions in edge-on disc galaxies}},
author = {Sophie Townson and Marie Martig and Robert J J Grand and Prashin Jethwa and Jesús Falcón-Barroso and Timothy A Davis},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag1885},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag1885/8869234},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Uncovering the origin of complex velocity distributions in edge-on disc galaxies
AU - Sophie Townson
AU - Marie Martig
AU - Robert J J Grand
AU - Prashin Jethwa
AU - Jesús Falcón-Barroso
AU - Timothy A Davis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stag1885
UR - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag1885/8869234
AB - Stellar line-of-sight velocity distributions are a powerful tool for studying galaxy kinematics and formation history, with multiple-peaked line-of-sight velocity distributions (LOSVDs) often indicating the presence of complex kinematic components. We extract stellar LOSVDs across the disc of a simulated spiral galaxy viewed edge-on, and study how often and why we see multiple-peaked LOSVDs. We find that the multiple-peaked LOSVDs are mainly found close to the mid-plane because they result from the presence of spiral arms. This is not because the spiral arms have significantly different kinematics to the disc, but because they correspond to overdensities. Variations in the number of arms present along a line of sight create variations in the number of peaks in LOSVDs. This can be used to quantify the strength of the spiral arms above the mid-plane, and how the thickness of spiral arms varies across the disc. We find that the commonly used fourth-order Gauss–Hermite moment, h_4, is negative in the regions where there are multiple-peaked LOSVDs, and hence traces spiral arms. Finally, we discuss the observability of the multiple-peaked regions and their associated h_4 measurements with current integral field spectrographs. We find that the spectral resolution of MUSE might not be high enough to uncover multiple peaks in LOSVDs when they result from spiral arms, but should allow for identification of the regions of negative h_4. On the other hand, higher resolution spectrographs like KOALA and WEAVE may be able to recover multiple peaks in LOSVDs, representing a promising avenue for characterizing spiral arms in edge-on disc galaxies.
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
ER -