The line-of-sight velocity distributions of simulated merger remnants

Abstract

We use Gauss-Hermite functions to study the line of sight velocity distributions in simulated merger remnants. Our sample contains sixteen remnants; eight produced by mergers between disk galaxies of equal mass and eight produced by mergers between disk galaxies with mass ratios of 3:1. The equal-mass mergers display a wide range of kinematic features, including counterrotation at large radii, orthogonally rotating cores, and misaligned rotational axes. Most of the unequal-mass remnants exhibit fairly regular disk-like kinematics, although two have kinematics more typical of the equalmass remnants. Our results may be compared to observations of early type objects, including ellipticals with misaligned kinematic axes, counterrotating systems, and S0 galaxies.