On the origin of counterrotating stellar disks in TNG50. I

Abstract

Understanding galaxy evolution is key to explaining the structures we observe in the present-day Universe. Counterrotating stellar disks (CRDs), i.e. co-spatial stellar disks rotating with opposite angular momentum, have been proposed as signatures of past accretion events. Therefore, they constitute potentially valuable tracers of galactic assembly. We aim to investigate the properties, formation, and significance of CRDs in a sample of Milky Way mass galaxies using the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulations. We select 260 central late-type galaxies (i.e. $M_{\rm tot} \approx 10^{12}$, $D/T>0.5$, $N_{\rm star}>10^5$). For each galaxy, we measure the circularity of its stellar particles and define the CRD by considering all particles with circularity $ε< -0.7$, which are located within the spatial extension of the main disk. We then characterize the mass fraction, spatial extent, and star formation history of the CRDs. Out of the 260 galaxies, we find that 26 host significant CRDs (i.e. contributing at least 1\% of the total stellar mass of the disk). This means that CRDs are rare, consistent with the results from observations. We also find that the most of the CRDs are compact (i.e. 88\%), in-situ dominated (i.e.73\%), and exhibit bursty SFHs whose peaks often coincide with external perturbations. This means that external perturbations are able to catalyze star formation, even when a majority of the CRD's star population is in-situ. Finally, we find that a variety of formation pathways can lead to CRDs, including interaction-induced in-situ bursts and smooth accretion of misaligned gas. Overall, our results suggest that CRDs are rare but diverse in origin. In most cases, their formation is linked to the accretion of retrograde gas, either through mergers or environmental inflow, suggesting that these structures are sensitive tracers of the galaxy's past accretion history.