The Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent Galaxies
Quiescent galaxies (QGs) typically have little cold gas to form stars. The discovery of gas-rich QGs challenges our conventional understanding of the evolutionary paths of galaxies. We take advantage of a new catalog of nearby massive galaxies with robust uniformly derived physical properties to bet...
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| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc71d |
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| author | Yang A. Li Luis C. Ho Jinyi Shangguan Zhao-Yu Li Yingjie Peng |
| author_facet | Yang A. Li Luis C. Ho Jinyi Shangguan Zhao-Yu Li Yingjie Peng |
| author_sort | Yang A. Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Quiescent galaxies (QGs) typically have little cold gas to form stars. The discovery of gas-rich QGs challenges our conventional understanding of the evolutionary paths of galaxies. We take advantage of a new catalog of nearby massive galaxies with robust uniformly derived physical properties to better understand the origin of gas-rich QGs. We perform a comparative analysis of the cold interstellar medium and star formation properties of carefully matched samples of galaxies with varying degrees of star formation activity and gas richness. QGs with different gas content have virtually identical morphological type, light concentration, mass–size relation, stellar age, dark matter halo mass, and black hole activity. The only distinguishing characteristic is the environment. Gas-rich satellite QGs reside in a lower-density environment than their gas-poor counterparts, as a consequence of which they manage to retain their gas and experience a higher probability of cold-gas accretion or gas-rich mergers. The environmental densities of central QGs are similar regardless of their gas content. We suggest that the cold gas resides mainly in the outskirts of the gas-rich QGs, where bars, if present, cannot transport it inward efficiently to fuel central star formation. The prominent bulges in gas-rich QGs stabilize the cold gas from fragmentation and lead to low star formation efficiency. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4e1f944b01334a13a3ced2ce6a18ed35 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-4e1f944b01334a13a3ced2ce6a18ed352025-08-20T02:14:11ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01984218410.3847/1538-4357/adc71dThe Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent GalaxiesYang A. Li0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3309-8433Luis C. Ho1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6947-5846Jinyi Shangguan2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4569-9009Zhao-Yu Li3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5017-7021Yingjie Peng4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0939-9671Department of Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China ; yangli_anpin@outlook.com, lizy.astro@sjtu.edu.cn; Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology , Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China; Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China; Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaKavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China; Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaKavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China; Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China ; yangli_anpin@outlook.com, lizy.astro@sjtu.edu.cn; Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology , Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of ChinaKavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China; Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaQuiescent galaxies (QGs) typically have little cold gas to form stars. The discovery of gas-rich QGs challenges our conventional understanding of the evolutionary paths of galaxies. We take advantage of a new catalog of nearby massive galaxies with robust uniformly derived physical properties to better understand the origin of gas-rich QGs. We perform a comparative analysis of the cold interstellar medium and star formation properties of carefully matched samples of galaxies with varying degrees of star formation activity and gas richness. QGs with different gas content have virtually identical morphological type, light concentration, mass–size relation, stellar age, dark matter halo mass, and black hole activity. The only distinguishing characteristic is the environment. Gas-rich satellite QGs reside in a lower-density environment than their gas-poor counterparts, as a consequence of which they manage to retain their gas and experience a higher probability of cold-gas accretion or gas-rich mergers. The environmental densities of central QGs are similar regardless of their gas content. We suggest that the cold gas resides mainly in the outskirts of the gas-rich QGs, where bars, if present, cannot transport it inward efficiently to fuel central star formation. The prominent bulges in gas-rich QGs stabilize the cold gas from fragmentation and lead to low star formation efficiency.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc71dGalaxy evolutionInterstellar mediumStar formation |
| spellingShingle | Yang A. Li Luis C. Ho Jinyi Shangguan Zhao-Yu Li Yingjie Peng The Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent Galaxies The Astrophysical Journal Galaxy evolution Interstellar medium Star formation |
| title | The Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent Galaxies |
| title_full | The Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent Galaxies |
| title_fullStr | The Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent Galaxies |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent Galaxies |
| title_short | The Origin of the Gas and Its Low Star Formation Efficiency in Quiescent Galaxies |
| title_sort | origin of the gas and its low star formation efficiency in quiescent galaxies |
| topic | Galaxy evolution Interstellar medium Star formation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc71d |
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