Galaxy angular momentum alignment with filaments at z 3: The effect of large scale structure on galaxies

International audienceWe propose NIRSpec MSA spectroscopy to measure, for the first time, the evolution of the alignment of galaxy angular momentum vectors with the surrounding large-scale filamentary structure in the Universe by measuring it at z~3 and comparing with local measurements. This probes the influence of accretion from the cosmic web on the angular momentum of star-forming galaxies. We will test theory predictions that galaxies should be more aligned with filaments at higher z. Locally, kinematic surveys find that the angular momentum of galaxies is statistically aligned with the cosmic web for late-type star forming galaxies, while orthogonal for early types (e.g., Kraljic et al 2021). We propose a mini-MaNGA-like survey of 250 star-forming galaxies at z~3 in the CEERS ERS field with the G235H grating. We will use the NIRSpec MSA in "slitlet stepping" mode to create high quality sub-kiloparsec 2D IFU-like velocity maps. This allows a high multiplex to obtain many kinematic maps in a modest amount of observing time. We will measure the kinematic major axes to obtain the directions of angular momenta, and correlate these directions with filamentary structure traced by spectroscopic and photometric redshifts. We will also measure the 3D kinematics of typical star-forming galaxies at z~3, extending current observations to higher redshifts, and enabling emission line diagnostic science. We waive the proprietary period and will release data cubes and analysis software publicly