Spin evolution of Horizon-AGN early-type galaxies

The differential rotational properties of early-type galaxies (ETGs) revealed by integral field spectroscopy surveys is arguably one of the most exciting findings in the galaxy evolution study during the past decade. Numerical studies have shown that galaxy mergers under various configurations can reproduce the observed distribution of ETG spin. However, we suggest an alternative scenario for the spin evolution of a large fraction of ETGs. Using the Horizon-AGN simulation, we follow the spin evolution of 10037 color-selected ETGs more massive than 1010 Msun that are divided into four groups: cluster centrals (3%), cluster satellites (33%), group centrals(5%), and field ETGs (59%). We find a strong mass dependence of the slow rotator fraction, fSR, and the mean spin of massive ETGs. Although the environmental dependence is not clear in the fSR, it is visible in the mean value of the spin parameter. The environmental dependence is driven by the satellite ETGs whose spin gradually decreases as their environment becomes denser. Galaxy mergers appear to be the main cause of total spin changes in 94% of central ETGs of halos with Mvir > 1012.5 Msun, but only 22% of satellite and field ETGs. We find that non-merger induced tidal perturbations better correlate with the galaxy spin-down in satellite ETGs than mergers. Given that the majority of ETGs are not central in dense environments, we conclude that non-merger tidal perturbation effects played a key role in the spin evolution of ETGs observed in the local (z < 1) universe.