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Astrophysics

The slow death of red galaxies

Nature volume 521, pages 164–165 (2015)Cite this article

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For most galaxies, the shutdown of star formation was a slow process that took 4 billion years. An analysis of some 27,000 galaxies suggests that 'strangulation' by their environment was the most likely cause. See Letter p.192

In humans, death by strangulation is a slow process that takes about four minutes. During this time, the victim uses up oxygen in the lungs but keeps producing carbon dioxide, which remains trapped in the body. On page 192 of this issue, Peng et al.1 present evidence of an analogous slow 'strangulation' process that ends the formation of stars in many galaxies by disrupting the supply of gas that accretes onto those galaxies from the environment. Instead of building up CO2, the strangled galaxies accumulate metals — elements heavier than helium — produced by massive stars.

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Figure 1: Colours and masses of galaxies.

Images: A. Cattaneo; Source Data: SDSS

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References

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  1. Andrea Cattaneo is in the Observatoire de Paris, GEPI, 75014 Paris, France.,

    Andrea Cattaneo

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  1. Andrea Cattaneo
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Correspondence to Andrea Cattaneo.

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Cattaneo, A. The slow death of red galaxies. Nature 521, 164–165 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/521164a

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