Stellar angular momentum can be controlled from cosmological initial conditions

Abstract

The angular momentum of galaxies controls the kinematics of their stars, which in turn drives observable quantities such as the apparent radius, the bulge fraction, and the alignment with other nearby structures. To show how angular momentum of galaxies is determined, we build high (35 pc) resolution numerical experiments in which we increase or decrease the angular momentum of the Lagrangian patches in the early universe. We perform cosmological zoom-in simulations of three galaxies over their histories from z = 200 to z = 2, each with five different choices for the angular momentum (15 simulations in total). Our results show that altering early universe angular momentum changes the timing and orbital parameters of mergers, which in turn changes the total stellar angular momentum within a galaxy's virial radius in a predictable manner. Of our three galaxies, one has no large satellite at z = 2; in this case, the specific angular momentum is concentrated in the central galaxy. Our changes to the initial conditions result in its stellar angular momentum changing over 0.7 dex (from 61 to 320 kpc km s-1) at z = 2. This causes its effective radius to grow by 40 per cent, its v/σ parameter to grow by a factor of 2.6, and its bulge fraction to decrease from 0.72 to 0.57. This proof of concept illustrates how causal studies can contribute to a better understanding of the origin of galaxy scaling relations and intrinsic alignments.