Minor-Axis Stellar Velocity Gradients in Disk and Polar-Ring Galaxies

Abstract

Kinematical decoupling between two components of a galaxy suggests the occurrence of a second event. In disk galaxies it is usually observed as a counterrotation of the stellar disk with respect to the gaseous component and/or with respect to a second stellar disk. We discuss here three cases of kinematical orthogonal decoupling of the innermost region of the spheroidal component with respect to the disk (or ring) component in the two Sa spirals NGC 4698 and NGC 4672, and in the elliptical galaxy with a polar ring AM 2020-504. Moreover the major axis of the disk (or ring) component forms an angle of 90 degrees with the major axis of the bulge (or elliptical) component. The above phenomena lead us to face a scenario in which the disk of a spiral galaxy might have been formed as a second event by accretion around a pre-existing bare spheroid.