Net-zero gas inflow: Measurement of the gas consumption history of a massive quiescent galaxy

Jan Scholtz; Francesco D'Eugenio; Roberto Maiolino; Pablo G. Pérez-González; Chiara Circosta; Sandro Tacchella; Christina C. Williams; Stacey Alberts; Santiago Arribas; William M. Baker; Elena Bertola; Andrew J. Bunker; Stefano Carniani; Stephane Charlot; Giovanni Cresci; Gareth C. Jones; Nimisha Kumari; Isabella Lamperti; Tobias J. Looser; Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino; Brant Robertson; Eleonora Parlanti; Michele Perna; Hannah Übler; Giacomo Venturi; Joris Witstok

arXiv · 2405.19401

Net-zero gas inflow: Measurement of the gas consumption history of a massive quiescent galaxy

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Abstract

JWST is discovering increasing numbers of quiescent galaxies 1--2 billion years after the Big Bang, whose redshift, high mass, and old stellar ages indicate that their formation and quenching were surprisingly rapid. This fast-paced evolution seems to require that feedback from AGN (active galactic nuclei) be faster and/or more efficient than previously expected \citep{Xie24}. We present deep ALMA observations of cold molecular gas (the fuel for star formation) in a massive, fast-rotating, post-starburst galaxy at $z=3.064$. This galaxy hosts an AGN, driving neutral-gas outflows with a mass-outflow rate of $60\pm20$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, and has a star-formation rate of $<5.6$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. Our data reveal this system to be the most distant gas-poor galaxy confirmed with direct CO observations (molecular-gas mass $< 10^{9.1}$ M$_{\odot}$; <0.8 % of its stellar mass). Combining ALMA and JWST observations, we estimate the gas-consumption history of this galaxy, showing that it evolved with net zero gas inflow, i.e., gas consumption by star formation matches the amount of gas this galaxy is missing relative to star-forming galaxies. This could arise both from preventive feedback stopping further gas inflow, which would otherwise refuel star formation or, alternatively, from fine-tuned ejective feedback matching precisely gas inflows. Our methods, applied to a larger sample, promise to disentangle ejective vs preventive feedback.

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Jan Scholtz, Francesco D'Eugenio, Roberto Maiolino, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Chiara Circosta, Sandro Tacchella, Christina C. Williams, Stacey Alberts, Santiago Arribas, William M. Baker, Elena Bertola, Andrew J. Bunker, Stefano Carniani, Stephane Charlot, Giovanni Cresci, Gareth C. Jones, Nimisha Kumari, Isabella Lamperti, Tobias J. Looser, Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino, Brant Robertson, Eleonora Parlanti, Michele Perna, Hannah Übler, Giacomo Venturi, Joris Witstok. 2024-05-29. Net-zero gas inflow: Measurement of the gas consumption history of a massive quiescent galaxy. https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.19401

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