Galactic disc warps from $z = 2.5$ to modern epoch: ruling out observational effects

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Chugunov, Ilia V., Reshetnikov, Vladimir P., Marchuk, Alexander A.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Chugunov, Ilia V.
Reshetnikov, Vladimir P.
Marchuk, Alexander A.
author_facet Chugunov, Ilia V.
Reshetnikov, Vladimir P.
Marchuk, Alexander A.
contents A significant fraction of galaxies show warps in their discs, usually noticeable at its periphery. The exact origin of this phenomenon is not fully established, although multiple warp formation mechanisms are proposed. In this study, we create a sample of more than 1000 distant ($z \lesssim 2.5$) edge-on galaxies imaged by HST and JWST. For these galaxies, we measurd characteristics of warps and finally analyse how their parameters and frequency change with time. We focus on our main result that galaxies with strong warps were more prevalent in the past compared to the modern epoch. We check how selection effects and varying image quality between objects in our sample could influence our results and conclude that varying fraction of warped galaxies is not caused by observational effects, but represents a genuine evolution. Such a trend may be consistent with mergers and interactions between galaxies being the primary mechanism of warp formation, as number density of galaxies decreases with time, implying higher rate of mergers and interactions in the past.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_01286
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Galactic disc warps from $z = 2.5$ to modern epoch: ruling out observational effects
Chugunov, Ilia V.
Reshetnikov, Vladimir P.
Marchuk, Alexander A.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
A significant fraction of galaxies show warps in their discs, usually noticeable at its periphery. The exact origin of this phenomenon is not fully established, although multiple warp formation mechanisms are proposed. In this study, we create a sample of more than 1000 distant ($z \lesssim 2.5$) edge-on galaxies imaged by HST and JWST. For these galaxies, we measurd characteristics of warps and finally analyse how their parameters and frequency change with time. We focus on our main result that galaxies with strong warps were more prevalent in the past compared to the modern epoch. We check how selection effects and varying image quality between objects in our sample could influence our results and conclude that varying fraction of warped galaxies is not caused by observational effects, but represents a genuine evolution. Such a trend may be consistent with mergers and interactions between galaxies being the primary mechanism of warp formation, as number density of galaxies decreases with time, implying higher rate of mergers and interactions in the past.
title Galactic disc warps from $z = 2.5$ to modern epoch: ruling out observational effects
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.01286