Evidence of a Flat Outer Rotation Curve in a Starbursting Disk Galaxy at $z=1.6$

Abstract

Observations of the baryon to dark matter fraction in galaxies through cosmic time are a fundamental test for galaxy formation models. Recent observational studies have suggested that some disk galaxies at $z>1$ host declining rotation curves, in contrast with observations of low redshift disk galaxies where stellar or HI rotation curves flatten at large radii. We present an observational counterexample, a galaxy named DSFG850.95 at $z=1.555$ (4.1 Gyr after the big bang) that hosts a flat rotation curve between radii of $\sim$6--14 kpc (1.2--2.8 disk scale lengths) and has a dark matter fraction of $0.44\pm 0.08$ at the H-band half light radius, similar to the Milky Way. We create position-velocity and position-dispersion diagrams using Keck/MOSFIRE spectroscopic observations of H$\alpha$ and [NII] emission features, which reveal a flat rotation velocity of $V_{\mathrm{flat}}=285\pm 12$ km/s and an ionized gas velocity dispersion of ${\sigma }_0=48\pm 4$ km/s. This galaxy has a rotation-dominated velocity field with $V_{\mathrm{flat}}/{\sigma }_0\sim 6$. Ground-based H-band imaging reveals a disk with Sérsic index of $1.29\pm 0.03$, an edge-on inclination angle of $87\pm 2^{\circ }$, and an H-band half light radius of $8.4\pm 0.1$ kpc. Our results point to DSFG850.95 being a massive, rotationally-supported disk galaxy with a high dark-matter-to-baryon fraction in the outer galaxy, similar to disk galaxies at low redshift.

Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 7 pages, 6 figures