Letter to the Editor

Larger λ_R in the disc of isolated active spiral galaxies than in their non-active twins

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/ Vía Láctea, s/n, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
e-mail: ignaciodelmoralcastro@gmail.com
² Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
³ Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A. P. 70-264, 04510 CDMX, Mexico
⁴ Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
⁵ IPARCOS, Facultad de CC Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain

Received: 3 April 2020
Accepted: 20 June 2020

Abstract

We present a comparison of the spin parameter λ_R, measured in a region dominated by the galaxy disc, between 20 pairs of nearby (0.005 <  z <  0.03) seemingly isolated twin galaxies differing in nuclear activity. We find that 80−82% of the active galaxies show higher values of λ_R than their corresponding non-active twin(s), indicating larger rotational support in the active galactic nuclei (AGN) discs. This result is driven by the 11 pairs of unbarred galaxies, for which 100% of the AGN show larger λ_R than their twins. These results can be explained by a more efficient angular momentum transfer from the inflowing gas to the disc baryonic matter in the case of the active galaxies. This gas inflow could have been induced by disc or bar instabilities, although we cannot rule out minor mergers if these are prevalent in our active galaxies. This result represents the first evidence of galaxy-scale differences between the dynamics of active and non-active isolated spiral galaxies of intermediate stellar masses (10¹⁰ <  M_* <  10¹¹ M_⊙) in the Universe.