Counterrotating core in the LMC: accretion and or merger

Abstract

The stellar radial velocity in the central region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is used to estimate the radial velocity curve along various position angles (PA) including the line of nodes (LON). The central part of the radial velocity profile along the LON shows a V-shaped profile instead of a straight line profile. This is a clear indication of counterrotation. To explain the observed velocity profile, we propose the existence of two disks in the inner LMC, with one coun-terrotating. This two disk model is found to match the Hi velocities as well. The presence of a counter-rotating core could be due to internal (secondary bar) / external (gas accretion) origin.