z ∼ 2: An Epoch of Disk Assembly

Abstract

We explore the evolution of the internal gas kinematics of star-forming galaxies from the peak of cosmic star formation at z similar to 2 to today. Measurements of galaxy rotation velocity V-rot, which quantify ordered motions, and gas velocity dispersion sigma(g), which quantify disordered motions, are adopted from the DEEP2 and SIGMA surveys. This sample covers a continuous baseline in redshift over 0.1 < z < 2.5, spanning 10 Gyr. At low redshift, nearly all sufficiently massive star-forming galaxies are rotationally supported (V-rot > sigma(g)). By z = 2, 50% and 70% of galaxies are rotationally supported at low (10(9)-10(10) M-circle dot) and high (10(10)-10(11) M-circle dot) stellar mass, respectively. For V-rot > 3 sigma(g), the percentage drops below 35% for all masses. From z = 2 to now, galaxies exhibit remarkably smooth kinematic evolution on average. All galaxies tend toward rotational support with time, and higher-mass systems reach it earlier. This is largely due to a mass-independent decline in sigma(g) by a factor of 3 since z - 2. Over the same time period, V-rot increases by a factor of 1.5 in low-mass systems but does not evolve at high mass. These trends in V-rot and sigma(g) are at a fixed stellar mass and therefore should not be interpreted as evolutionary tracks for galaxy populations. When populations are linked in time via abundance matching, sigma(g) declines as before and V-rot strongly increases with time for all galaxy populations, enhancing the evolution in V-rot sigma(g). These results indicate that z = 2 is a period of disk assembly, during which strong rotational support is only just beginning to emerge.