Azimuthal Misalignments in Stellar Warp Structure as Dynamical Tracers of Mergers in Milky Way-like Galaxies

Lekshmi Thulasidharan, Elena D'Onghia, Robert Benjamin

We investigate the origin of warps in stellar disks using high-resolution Milky Way analogs from the IllustrisTNG50 simulation. Focusing on galaxies that experienced a major merger…