Kavli Affiliate: Roberto Maiolino
| First 5 Authors: William M. Baker, Roberto Maiolino, Asa F. L. Bluck, Francesco Belfiore, Mirko Curti
| Summary:
One of the most important questions in astrophysics is what causes galaxies
to stop forming stars. Previous studies have shown a tight link between
quiescence and black hole mass. Other studies have revealed that quiescence is
also associated with ‘starvation’, the halting of gas inflows, which results in
the remaining gas being used up by star formation and in rapid chemical
enrichment. In this work, we find the missing link between these two findings.
Using a large sample of galaxies, we uncover the intrinsic dependencies of the
stellar metallicity on galaxy properties. In the case of star-forming galaxies,
stellar metallicity is primarily driven by stellar mass. However, for passive
galaxies, the stellar metallicity is primarily driven by the stellar velocity
dispersion. The latter is known to be tightly correlated with black hole mass.
This result can be seen as connecting previous studies, where the integrated
effect of black hole feedback (i.e. black hole mass, traced by the velocity
dispersion) prevents gas inflows, starving the galaxy, which is seen by the
rapid increase in the stellar metallicity, and leading to the galaxy becoming
passive.
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