Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The complex Interplay between Spin, Mass, and Morphology

A. Burkert; A.F. Teklu; A.M. Beck; A.S. Schmidt; F. Schulze; K. Dolag; L.K. Steinborn; R.-S. Remus

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Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The complex Interplay between Spin, Mass, and Morphology

A.F. Teklu, R.-S. Remus, K. Dolag, A.M. Beck, A. Burkert, A.S. Schmidt, F. Schulze, L.K. Steinborn

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Submitted 11 Mar 2015

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim We find that (1) the specific angular momentum of stars in disk and spheroidal galaxies as a function of their stellar mass compares well with observational results; (2) the specific angular momentum of the stars in disk galaxies is slightly smaller compared to the specific angular momentum of the cold gas, in good agreement with observations; (3) simulations including the baryonic component show a dichotomy in the specific stellar angular momentum distribution when splitting the galaxies according to their morphological type (this dichotomy can also be seen in the spin parameter, where disk galaxies populate halos with slightly larger spin compared to spheroidal galaxies); (4) disk galaxies preferentially populate halos in which the angular momentum vector of the DM component in the central part shows a better alignment to the angular momentum vector of the entire halo; and (5) the specific angular momentum of the cold gas in disk galaxies is approximately 40 percent smaller than the specific angular momentum of the total DM halo and shows a significant scatter.

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arXiv ID1503.03501 (version 2)

Pith IDVYIRSC5T, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationA. Burkert, A.F. Teklu, A.M. Beck, A.S. Schmidt, F. Schulze, K. Dolag, L.K. Steinborn, R.-S. Remus. "Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The complex Interplay between Spin, Mass, and Morphology." arXiv:1503.03501 (2015). https://pith.science/paper/VYIRSC5T

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What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.03 · states limitation 0.23 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.21 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.98 · compares with prior results 0.88 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v2. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

The evolution and distribution of the angular momentum of dark matter (DM) halos have been discussed in several studies over the past decades. In particular, the idea arose that angular momentum conservation should allow to infer the total angular momentum of the entire DM halo from measuring the angular momentum of the baryonic component, which is populating the center of the halo, especially for disk galaxies. To test this idea and to understand the connection between the angular momentum of the DM halo and its galaxy, we use the Magneticum simulations. We successfully produce populations of spheroidal and disk galaxies self-consistently. Thus, we are able to study the dependence of galactic properties on their morphology. We find that (1) the specific angular momentum of stars in disk and spheroidal galaxies as a function of their stellar mass compares well with observational results; (2) the specific angular momentum of the stars in disk galaxies is slightly smaller compared to the specific angular momentum of the cold gas, in good agreement with observations; (3) simulations including the baryonic component show a dichotomy in the specific stellar angular momentum distribution when splitting the galaxies according to their morphological type (this dichotomy can also be seen in the spin parameter, where disk galaxies populate halos with slightly larger spin compared to spheroidal galaxies); (4) disk galaxies preferentially populate halos in which the angular momentum vector of the DM component in the central part shows a better alignment to the angular momentum vector of the entire halo; and (5) the specific angular momentum of the cold gas in disk galaxies is approximately 40 percent smaller than the specific angular momentum of the total DM halo and shows a significant scatter.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	The evolution and distribution of the angular momentum of dark matter (DM) halos have been discussed in several studies over the past decades.	background 1.00	0.03	0.02	asserted 0.96
s1	In particular, the idea arose that angular momentum conservation should allow to infer the total angular momentum of the entire DM halo from measuring the angular momentum of the baryonic component, which is populating the center of the halo, especially for disk galaxies.	background 0.99	0.04	0.06	hedged possibility 0.49
s2	To test this idea and to understand the connection between the angular momentum of the DM halo and its galaxy, we use the Magneticum simulations.	method 0.94	0.79	0.02	asserted 0.71
s3	We successfully produce populations of spheroidal and disk galaxies self-consistently.	method 0.42	0.96	0.03	asserted 1.00
s4	Thus, we are able to study the dependence of galactic properties on their morphology.	contribution 0.66	0.68	0.03	asserted 0.96
s5	We find that (1) the specific angular momentum of stars in disk and spheroidal galaxies as a function of their stellar mass compares well with observational results; (2) the specific angular momentum of the stars in disk galaxies is slightly smaller compared to the specific angular momentum of the cold gas, in good agreement with observations; (3) simulations including the baryonic component show a dichotomy in the specific stellar angular momentum distribution when splitting the galaxies according to their morphological type (this dichotomy can also be seen in the spin parameter, where disk galaxies populate halos with slightly larger spin compared to spheroidal galaxies); (4) disk galaxies preferentially populate halos in which the angular momentum vector of the DM component in the central part shows a better alignment to the angular momentum vector of the entire halo; and (5) the specific angular momentum of the cold gas in disk galaxies is approximately 40 percent smaller than the specific angular momentum of the total DM halo and shows a significant scatter.	result 1.00	0.98	0.84	asserted 1.00

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: simulation study 1.00 · evidence from simulation or computation 1.00.

What was examined, and what was not

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arXiv listing abstract v2

not examined

full text
figures and tables
references and citing sentences
relations to other papers

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P abstract

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C citations
R cross-paper relations

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The paper

Original abstract

The evolution and distribution of the angular momentum of dark matter (DM) halos have been discussed in several studies over the past decades. In particular, the idea arose that angular momentum conservation should allow to infer the total angular momentum of the entire DM halo from measuring the angular momentum of the baryonic component, which is populating the center of the halo, especially for disk galaxies. To test this idea and to understand the connection between the angular momentum of the DM halo and its galaxy, we use the Magneticum simulations. We successfully produce populations of spheroidal and disk galaxies self-consistently. Thus, we are able to study the dependence of galactic properties on their morphology. We find that (1) the specific angular momentum of stars in disk and spheroidal galaxies as a function of their stellar mass compares well with observational results; (2) the specific angular momentum of the stars in disk galaxies is slightly smaller compared to the specific angular momentum of the cold gas, in good agreement with observations; (3) simulations including the baryonic component show a dichotomy in the specific stellar angular momentum distribution when splitting the galaxies according to their morphological type (this dichotomy can also be seen in the spin parameter, where disk galaxies populate halos with slightly larger spin compared to spheroidal galaxies); (4) disk galaxies preferentially populate halos in which the angular momentum vector of the DM component in the central part shows a better alignment to the angular momentum vector of the entire halo; and (5) the specific angular momentum of the cold gas in disk galaxies is approximately 40 percent smaller than the specific angular momentum of the total DM halo and shows a significant scatter.

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References

Forward citations

Cited by 4 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

Why Cosmic Voids Matter: Pristine Evolution
astro-ph.CO 2025-09 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

Cosmic voids traced by halos become stable at late times, and the matter around them evolves linearly, supporting their use as clean dark-energy probes.
A probabilistic approach to separate mergers and jellyfish galaxies: Application of morphological non-parametric indexes to the DESI Legacy Survey
astro-ph.GA 2026-10 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

Using ten morphological indices, the authors build calibrated classifiers that separate regular galaxies from disturbed ones (balanced accuracy 0.89) but struggle to distinguish mergers from jellyfish candidates (merg...
Wandering intermediate-mass black holes and off-nuclear tidal disruption events from early star clusters
astro-ph.GA 2026-10 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

Wandering IMBHs from high-redshift star clusters produce off-nuclear TDEs in bursts at z~9-13, with rates up to 4e-2 yr^-1 per galaxy, offering a probe of early cluster conditions.
SPT Clusters with DES and HST Weak Lensing. II. Cosmological Constraints from the Abundance of Massive Halos
astro-ph.CO 2024-01 accept novelty 5.0 of 10

A sample of 1,005 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected clusters with DES and Hubble lensing mass calibration gives Omega_m = 0.286 +/- 0.032 and sigma_8 = 0.817 +/- 0.026, consistent with Planck and, combined with it, pushing ...

How later papers used it

112 later papers cite it

Evidence: some. 69 of the citing papers share no author with it, and 14 of those carry a confident label from Pith's citation classifier.

Pith read 7 of the 190 citing sentences, choosing only those whose citation markers point at this paper alone, and wrote the paraphrases from them. The summary, the counts, the evidence level, the links and the quotes come from code; the summary counts the papers listed below. A later paper is listed under a label when Pith's citation classifier gives one of its sentences that label at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), Pith's reading finds that the citing paper itself did it, and a second check confirms the paraphrase against the sentence. This section lists uses only. It does not list criticism or disagreement, so their absence here says nothing about how the paper has been received. Papers that share an author with this one are listed apart, under "By the same authors". A quote is the citing authors' own sentence, shown when their paper's licence is CC BY, CC BY-SA or CC0. JSON

2 later papers by other authors are listed below: 2 used its method or tool. 2 more papers by the same authors are listed: 2 used its method or tool.

Uses its method or tool 4 of 9 papers with this label · 2 by the same authors

Followed the divider adopted by this paper to define galaxies with kinematic bulge-to-total ratio below 0.6 as late-type and above 0.6 as early-type.

Comparing galaxy morphology in hydrodynamical simulation and in semi-analytic model (2018) · 0.80 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
Followed this paper to consider galaxies with more than 40 percent of stars in the thin disc as kinematics-selected disc galaxies.

Flux-ratio anomalies from discs and other baryonic structures in the Illustris simulation (2017) · 0.80 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

By the same authors

Followed this paper to calculate, for each galaxy, the b-value as the y-intercept of the linear relation in the log-log stellar mass versus stellar angular momentum plane.

The Morphology-Density-Relation: Impact on the Satellite Fraction (2017) (same authors) · 1.00 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
Followed this paper to classify its galaxies by b-value into disk, intermediate and spheroidal categories.

Kinematics of Simulated Galaxies II: Probing the Stellar Kinematics of Galaxies out to Large Radii (2020) (same authors) · 0.97 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

How the literature uses it

12 arXiv papers cite this in 17 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 11 sentences without a confident label

Uses its data or values 1 paper

We assume the average $λ_hot ≈0.06-0.08$ found in cosmological simulations ( [ref] ), a factor of $≈2$ larger than the mean spin of the halo.

Hot accretion onto spiral galaxies: the origin of extended and warped HI discs · Misaligned hot inflows · 1.00

Cites it as support 2 papers

Because galaxy spins tend to align with the spins of their DM haloes [ref] , it is expected that this second order quantity can be used to predict galaxy spins as well.

Observational detection of correlation between galaxy spins and initial conditions · Introduction · 0.98
This is because the spin of baryon components of a galaxy well aligns with its initial spin [ref] and host halo spin [ref] .

Probing vector chirality in the early Universe · Introduction · 1.00

Cites it as background 2 papers

We provide a brief overview of the suite here and refer the reader to previous works for more details [ref] , and in particular to Reference [ref] for a comprehensive description.

Why Cosmic Voids Matter: Pristine Evolution · The Magneticum simulations · 0.96
The simulations follow a wide range of physical processes (see Refs. [ref] for details) which are important for studying the formation of active galactic nuclei (AGN), galaxies, and galaxy groups and clusters.

Testing the SZ-based tomographic approach to the thermal history of the universe with pressure-density cross-correlations: Insights from the Magneticum simulation · The Magneticum simulation · 0.90

What it cites · 3 sentences without a confident label

Uses the method or tool of 1 paper

It includes various updates in the formulation of SPH regarding the treatment of the viscosity and the used kernels (see [ref] ).

An improved SPH scheme for cosmological simulations · The Magneticum Pathfinder Simulations · 0.93

Cites as background 1 paper

[ref] studied the different behavior of the gas and DM specific angular momentum by following the evolution of a Milky-Way-type galaxy over cosmic time.

The angular momentum of baryons and dark matter halos revisited · Introduction · 0.85

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