Observational detection of correlation between galaxy spins and initial conditions

Abstract

Galaxy spins can be predicted from the initial conditions in the early Universe through the tidal tensor twist. In simulations, their directions are well preserved through cosmic time, consistent with expectations of angular momentum conservation. We report a $\sim 3\sigma$ detection of correlation between observed oriented directions of galaxy angular momenta and their predictions based on the initial density field reconstructed from the positions of SDSS galaxies. The detection is driven by a group of spiral galaxies classified by the Galaxy Zoo as (anti-)clockwise, with a modest improvement from adding galaxies from MaNGA and SAMI surveys. This is the first such detection of the oriented galaxy spin direction, which opens a way to use measurements of galaxy spins to probe fundamental physics in the early Universe.

arXiv comment6 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (41)

• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: Spectra and redshifts
• Overview of the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey: Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory
• Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe
• Galaxy Zoo : Morphologies derived from visual inspection of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Galaxy Groups in the SDSS DR4: I. The Catalogue and Basic Properties
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: instrument specification and target selection
• The Fifteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release of MaNGA Derived Quantities, Data Visualization Tools and Stellar Library
• Bayesian physical reconstruction of initial conditions from large scale structure surveys
• The Evolution of Dark Matter Halo Properties in Clusters, Filaments, Sheets and Voids
• Connecting the cosmic web to the spin of dark halos: implications for galaxy formation
• Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The complex Interplay between Spin, Mass, and Morphology
• Spin alignment of dark matter haloes in filaments and walls
• Testing Tidal-Torque Theory: I. Spin Amplitude and Direction
• Cosmic Shear from Galaxy Spins
• Galaxy spin alignment in filaments and sheets: observational evidence
• Galaxy alignments: Observations and impact on cosmology
• Testing Tidal-Torque Theory: II. Alignment of Inertia and Shear and the Characteristics of Proto-haloes
• Review: galactic angular momenta and angular momentum correlations in the cosmological large-scale structure
• ELUCID - Exploring the Local Universe with reConstructed Initial Density field I: Hamiltonian Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method with Particle Mesh Dynamics
• Galaxy Spin Statistics and Spin-Density Correlation
• ELUCID - Exploring the Local Universe with reConstructed Initial Density field III: Constrained Simulation in the SDSS Volume
• Galaxy Zoo: The large-scale spin statistics of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Is the dark-matter halo spin a predictor of galaxy spin and size?
• Imprint of inflation on galaxy shape correlations
• The Cosmic Ballet: spin and shape alignments of haloes in the cosmic web
• Fossil evidence for spin alignment of SDSS galaxies in filaments
• The Cosmic Ballet II: Spin alignment of galaxies and haloes with large-scale filaments in the EAGLE simulation
• Iterative initial condition reconstruction
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Data Release Two with absorption-line physics value-added products
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: First detection of a transition in spin orientation with respect to cosmic filaments in the stellar kinematics of galaxies
• The spin alignment of galaxies with the large-scale tidal field in hydrodynamic simulations
• Spin flips I: Evolution of the angular momentum orientation of Milky Way-mass dark matter haloes
• An iterative reconstruction of cosmological initial density fields
• Primordial Gravitational Waves from Galaxy Intrinsic Alignments
• Alignment between filaments and galaxy spins from the MaNGA integral-field survey
• Probing Primordial Chirality with Galaxy Spins
• Nonlinear reconstruction
• Spin Flips - II. Evolution of dark matter halo spin orientation, and its correlation with major mergers
• Parity-odd Neutrino Torque Detection
• Reconstruction with velocities

Cited by in corpus (31)

• Possible observational evidence that cosmic filaments spin
• Cosmic Ballet III: halo spin evolution in the cosmic web
• Intergalactic filaments spin
• Observational search for primordial chirality violations using galaxy angular momenta
• The Origin of the Relation Between Stellar Angular Momentum and Stellar Mass in Nearby Disk-dominated galaxies
• Spin conservation of cosmic filaments
• Analysis of spin directions of galaxies in the DESI Legacy Survey
• New evidence and analysis of cosmological-scale asymmetry in galaxy spin directions
• Merger Effects on the Spin and Shape Alignments of Galaxy Stellar, Cold and Hot Gas, and Dark Matter Components
• Unexpected dancing partners: Tracing the coherence between the spin and motion of dark matter halos
• Reanalysis of the spin direction distribution of Galaxy Zoo SDSS spiral galaxies
• Using 3D and 2D analysis for analyzing large-scale asymmetry in galaxy spin directions
• Analysis of $\sim 10^6$ spiral galaxies from four telescopes shows large-scale patterns of asymmetry in galaxy spin directions
• Baryonic Effects on Lagrangian Clustering and Angular Momentum Reconstruction
• Large-scale asymmetry in the distribution of galaxy spin directions -- analysis and reproduction
• Probing vector chirality in the early Universe
• Extracting parity-violating gravitational waves from projected tidal force tensor in three dimensions
• Spin speed correlations and the evolution of galaxy-halo systems
• A rising tide: Intrinsic alignments since the turn of the millennium
• Correlating galaxy shapes and initial conditions: an observational study
• Measuring cosmic filament spin with the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
• Galaxy Spin Classification I: Z-wise vs S-wise Spirals With Chirality Equivariant Residual Network
• Large-scale asymmetry in galaxy spin directions -- analysis of galaxies with spectra in DES, SDSS, and DESI Legacy Survey
• The Density Parity Model for the Evolution of the Subhalo Inner Spin Alignments with the Cosmic Web
• Reoriented Memory of Galaxy Spins for the Early Universe
• Galaxy Spin Alignment with Tidal Fields in the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey
• Parity Violation in Galaxy Shapes: Primordial Non-Gaussianity
• Lagrangian space remapping and the angular momentum reconstruction from cosmic structures
• Observational assessment of the viability of de Sitter-Gödel-de Sitter phase transition
• A high-significance detection of primordial tidal torque imprints
• Cosmic Web-Halo Connection Between Twin Universes