  Counterrotating stars in disk galaxies are a puzzling dynamical feature whose
origin has been ascribed to either satellite accretion events or to disk
instabilities triggered by deviations from axisymmetry. We use a cosmological
simulation of the formation of a disk galaxy to show that counterrotating
stellar disk components may arise naturally in hierarchically-clustering
scenarios even in the absence of merging. The simulated disk galaxy consists of
two coplanar, overlapping stellar components with opposite spins: an inner
counterrotating bar-like structure made up mostly of old stars surrounded by an
extended, rotationally-supported disk of younger stars. The opposite-spin
components originate from material accreted from two distinct filamentary
structures which at turn around, when their net spin is acquired, intersect
delineating a "V"-like structure. Each filament torques the other in opposite
directions; the filament that first drains into the galaxy forms the inner
counterrotating bar, while material accreted from the other filament forms the
outer disk. Mergers do not play a substantial role and most stars in the galaxy
are formed in situ; only 9% of all stars are contributed by accretion events.
The formation scenario we describe here implies a significant age difference
between the co- and counterrotating components, which may be used to
discriminate between competing scenarios for the origin of counterrotating
stars in disk galaxies.
