Falling outer rotation curves of star-forming galaxies at 0.7 < z < 2.6 probed with KMOS3D and SINS/zC-SINF

We exploit the deep Hα IFU kinematic data from the KMOS^3D and SINS/zC-SINF surveys to explore the so far unconstrained outer rotation curves of star-forming disk galaxies at high redshift. Through stacking the signal of ~ 100 massive disks at 0.7 < z < 2.6, we construct a representative rotation curve reaching out to several effective radii. Our stacked rotation curve exhibits a turnover with a steep falloff in the outer regions, significantly strengthening the tantalizing evidence previously hinted at in a handful only of individual disks among the sample with the deepest data.

This finding confirms the high baryon fractions found by comparing the stellar, gas and dynamical masses of high redshift galaxies independently of assumptions on the light-to-mass conversion and Initial stellar Mass Function (IMF). The rapid falloff of the stacked rotation curve is most naturally explained by the effects of pressure gradients, which are significant in the gas-rich, turbulent high-z disks and which would imply a possible pressure-driven truncation of the outer disk.