KAOSS: turbulent, but disc-like kinematics in dust-obscured star-forming galaxies at $z\sim$1.3-2.6

Abstract

We present spatially resolved kinematics of 31 ALMA-identified dust-obscured star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at $z\sim$1.3-2.6, as traced by H$\alpha$ emission using VLT/KMOS near-infrared integral field spectroscopy from our on-going Large Programme ''KMOS-ALMA Observations of Submillimetre Sources'' (KAOSS). We derive H$\alpha$ rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles for the DSFGs. Of the 31 sources with bright, spatially extended H$\alpha$ emission, 25 display rotation curves that are well fit by a Freeman disc model, enabling us to measure a median inclination-corrected velocity at 2.2$R_{\rm d}$ of $v_{\rm rot}$ = 190 $\pm$ 30 kms$^{-1}$ and a median intrinsic velocity dispersion of $\sigma_0$ = 87 $\pm$ 6 kms$^{-1}$ for these $\textit{disc-like}$ sources. By comparison with less actively star-forming galaxies, KAOSS DSFGs are both faster rotating and more turbulent, but have similar $v_{\rm rot}/\sigma_0$ ratios, median 2.4 $\pm$ 0.5. We suggest that $v_{\rm rot}/\sigma_0$ alone is insufficient to describe the kinematics of DSFGs, which are not kinematically ''cold'' discs, and that the individual components $v_{\rm rot}$ and $\sigma_0$ indicate that they are in fact turbulent, but rotationally supported systems in $\sim$50 per cent of cases. This turbulence may be driven by star formation or mergers/interactions. We estimate the normalisation of the stellar Tully-Fisher relation (sTFR) for the disc-like DSFGs and compare it with local studies, finding no evolution at fixed slope between $z\sim$2 and $z\sim$0. Finally, we use kinematic estimates of DSFG halo masses to investigate the stellar-to-halo mass relation, finding our sources to be consistent with shock heating and strong feedback which likely drives the declining stellar content in the most massive halos.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, submitted to MNRAS, updated author lis