ArXiv TLDR

Spin Parity of Spiral Galaxies VI -- A Search for Dynamical Memory in the Spin Distribution of Galaxies in HSC WIDE Survey Regions

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2605.05570

Masanori Iye, Masafumi Yagi

astro-ph.GA

TLDR

This study finds that the spin-vector distribution of spiral galaxies is statistically random, supporting the standard cosmological model.

Key contributions

  • Analyzed spin parity of 49,494 spiral galaxies using HSC DR2 data.
  • Used S/Z spiral winding to determine line-of-sight spin vector direction.
  • Observed spin distributions align with random assignments and theoretical binomial distribution.
  • Concludes galaxy spin distribution is statistically random, consistent with cosmology.

Why it matters

This paper provides crucial evidence that the spin orientation of spiral galaxies is random, rather than exhibiting large-scale alignment. This finding supports the standard cosmological model of structure formation, which predicts such randomness. It helps refine our understanding of galaxy evolution.

Original Abstract

We analyzed the distribution of spin parity in spiral galaxies using the HSC DR2 data. The spiral winding parity of disk galaxies, observed as S-spiral or Z-spiral projected onto the sky plane, provides robust information on the sign of the line-of-sight component of their spin vectors, specifically whether the spin vector points toward or away from us. The distribution of 49,494 S/Z annotated spirals with spectroscopic redshift (0.05 $\le z$) was analyzed for 46,247 fiducial cubic search volumes of various sizes, 20--200 Mpc, deployed in the 3D supergalactic coordinates. We counted the number of S-spirals and Z-spirals in each cube, evaluated the binomial probability of the observed S/Z imbalance, and identified statistically anomalous cube candidates. The observed cumulative distribution functions for the 256 sets of cubes are in good agreement with the theoretical binomial distribution and with those obtained from 1000 Monte Carlo realizations assuming random S/Z spin assignments. The number of statistically anomalous cubes is also comparable to that expected from the random assignments. These results indicate that the spin-vector distribution of spiral galaxies is consistent with statistical randomness expected from the standard cosmological model of structure formation.

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