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 equal-mass remnants. Our results may be compared to observations of early type objects, including ellipticals with misaligned kinematic axes, counterrotating systems, and S0 galaxies.