Cold gas disks in main-sequence galaxies at cosmic noon: Low turbulence, flat rotation curves, and disk-halo degeneracy

Abstract

We study the dynamics of cold molecular gas in two main-sequence galaxies at cosmic noon (zC-488879 at $z\simeq 1.47$ and zC-400569 at $z\simeq 2.24$) using new high-resolution ALMA observations of multiple ${}^{12}$CO transitions. For zC-400569 we also re-analyze high-quality H$\alpha$ data from the SINS/zC-SINF survey. We find that (1) Both galaxies have regularly rotating CO disks and their rotation curves are flat out to $\sim$8 kpc contrary to previous results pointing to outer declines in the rotation speed $V_{\mathrm{rot}}$; (2) The intrinsic velocity dispersions are low (${\sigma }_{\mathrm{CO}}\lesssim 15$ km/s for CO and ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{H}\alpha }\lesssim 37$ km/s for H$\alpha$) and imply $V_{\mathrm{rot}}/{\sigma }_{\mathrm{CO}}\gtrsim 17-22$ yielding no significant pressure support; (3) Mass models using HST images display a severe disk-halo degeneracy: models with inner baryon dominance and models with "cuspy" dark matter halos can fit the rotation curves equally well due to the uncertainties on stellar and gas masses; (4) Milgromian dynamics (MOND) can successfully fit the rotation curves with the same acceleration scale $a_0$ measured at $z\simeq 0$. The question of the amount and distribution of dark matter in high-$z$ galaxies remains unsettled due to the limited spatial extent of the available kinematic data; we discuss the suitability of various emission lines to trace extended rotation curves at high $z$. Nevertheless, the properties of these two high-$z$ galaxies (high $V_{\mathrm{rot}}/{\sigma }_{\mathrm{V}}$ ratios, inner rotation curve shapes, bulge-to-total mass ratios) are remarkably similar to those of massive spirals at $z\simeq 0$, suggesting weak dynamical evolution over more than 10 Gyr of the Universe's lifetime.

18 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables, 2 appendices. Minor revisions to match the published version in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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