The most evident features of colour-magnitude diagrams of galaxies are the red sequence of quiescent galaxies, extending up to the brightest elliptical galaxies, and the blue cloud of star-forming galaxies, which is truncated at a luminosity L~L*. The truncation of the blue cloud indicates that in the most massive systems star formation must be quenched. For this to happen the virial-temperature galactic gas must be kept hot and any accreted cold gas must be heated. The elimination of accreted cold gas can be due to thermal evaporation by the hot interstellar medium, which in turn is prevented from cooling by feedback from active galactic nuclei.
Cool gas accretion, thermal evaporation and quenching of star formation in elliptical galaxies / Nipoti C.. - In: ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN. - ISSN 0004-6337. - STAMPA. - 330:(2009), pp. 910-911. (Intervento presentato al convegno Symposium 6 of the JENAM 2008 tenutosi a Vienna nel September 2008) [10.1002/asna.200911260].
Cool gas accretion, thermal evaporation and quenching of star formation in elliptical galaxies
NIPOTI, CARLO
2009
Abstract
The most evident features of colour-magnitude diagrams of galaxies are the red sequence of quiescent galaxies, extending up to the brightest elliptical galaxies, and the blue cloud of star-forming galaxies, which is truncated at a luminosity L~L*. The truncation of the blue cloud indicates that in the most massive systems star formation must be quenched. For this to happen the virial-temperature galactic gas must be kept hot and any accreted cold gas must be heated. The elimination of accreted cold gas can be due to thermal evaporation by the hot interstellar medium, which in turn is prevented from cooling by feedback from active galactic nuclei.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
