Intergalactic filaments spin

Abstract

Matter in the Universe is arranged in a cosmic web, with a filament of matter typically connecting each neighbouring galaxy pair, separated by tens of millions of light-years. A quadrupolar pattern of the spin field around filaments is known to influence the spins of galaxies and haloes near them, but it remains unknown whether filaments themselves spin. Here, we measure dark-matter velocities around filaments in cosmological simulations, finding that matter generally rotates around them, much faster than around a randomly located axis. It also exhibits some coherence along the filament. The net rotational component is comparable to, and often dominant over, the known quadrupolar flow. The evidence of net rotations revises previous emphasis on a quadrupolar spin field around filaments. The full picture of rotation in the cosmic web is more complicated and multiscale than a network of spinning filamentary rods, but we argue that filament rotation is substantial enough to be an essential part of the picture. It is likely that the longest coherently rotating objects in the Universe are filaments. Also, we speculate that this rotation could provide a mechanism to generate or amplify intergalactic magnetic fields in filaments.

MNRAS, in press. Illustrative animation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1-a-htHAxY

References in corpus (12)

• Properties of Dark Matter Haloes in Clusters, Filaments, Sheets and Voids
• Spin alignment of dark matter haloes in filaments and walls
• Discreteness effects in simulations of Hot/Warm dark matter
• Angular momentum-Large-scale structure alignments in LCDM models and the SDSS
• Second order Fermi reacceleration mechanisms and large scale synchrotron radio emission in intra-cluster bridges
• The build up of the correlation between halo spin and the large scale structure
• Vortices and waves in light dark matter
• Observational detection of correlation between galaxy spins and initial conditions
• Deviations from tidal torque theory: evolution of the halo spin-filament alignment
• Gravitational redshift and asymmetric redshift-space distortions for stacked clusters
• Angular Momentum and the Absence of Vortices in the Cores of Fuzzy Dark Matter Haloes
• The Zeldovich & Adhesion approximations, and applications to the local universe

Cited by in corpus (19)

• The boundary of cosmic filaments
• Observational search for primordial chirality violations using galaxy angular momenta
• Cosmic Filament Spin from Dark Matter Vortices
• Cosmic Web Dissection in Fuzzy Dark Matter Cosmologies
• Spin conservation of cosmic filaments
• Unexpected dancing partners: Tracing the coherence between the spin and motion of dark matter halos
• Scalar dark matter vortex stabilization with black holes
• Cosmic filament spin -- II: filament spin and its impact on galaxy spin-filament alignment in a cosmological simulation
• The correlations between galaxy properties in different environments of the cosmic web
• Infall Profiles for Supercluster-Scale Filaments
• Measuring cosmic filament spin with the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
• Cosmic filament spin -- I: a comparative study in observation
• The outskirts of M33: Tidally induced distortions versus signatures of gas accretion
• The imprints of galaxy cluster internal dynamics on the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect
• 3D Vortices and rotating solitons in ultralight dark matter
• SAGAN-VI: When Jets Meet Filaments -- Environmental Imprints on the Growth of Giant Radio Galaxies
• Accretion Structures around Kerr Black Holes in a Swirling Background
• A 15 Mpc rotating galaxy filament at redshift z = 0.032
• Newtonian Gravity and Galaxy Rotation Curves: An Axisymmetric Green's Function Perspective