The kinematics of ionized gas in Lyman-Break Analogs at z ~ 0.2
  We present results for 19 "Lyman Break Analogs" (LBAs) observed with
Keck/OSIRIS with an AO-assisted spatial resolution of less than 200 pc. We
detect satellites/companions, diffuse emission and velocity shear, all with
high signal-to-noise ratios. These galaxies present remarkably high velocity
dispersion along the line of sight(- 70 km s-1), much higher than standard
star-forming spirals in the low-redshift universe. We artificially redshift our
data to z - 2.2 to allow for a direct comparison with observations of high-z
LBGs and find striking similarities between both samples. This suggests that
either similar physical processes are responsible for their observed
properties, or, alternatively, that it is very difficult to distinguish between
different mechanisms operating in the low versus high redshift starburst
galaxies based on the available data. The comparison between morphologies in
the UV/optical continuum and our kinemetry analysis often shows that neither is
by itself sufficient to confirm or completely rule out the contribution from
recent merger events. We find a correlation between the kinematic properties
and stellar mass, in that more massive galaxies show stronger evidence for a
disk-like structure. This suggests a co-evolutionary process between the
stellar mass build-up and the formation of morphological and dynamical
sub-structure within the galaxy.
