Blue star-forming isolated elliptical galaxies
Abstract
The isolated environment seems to favor the formation of blue, star-forming galaxies that are not observed in a high-density environment such as the Coma supercluster. These galaxies, with masses between 7 × 10^9 and 2 × 10^10 h-2 Msun, are also the youngest galaxies from a sample of isolated elliptical galaxies with light-weighted stellar ages ∼1 < Gyr and exhibit bluer colors toward the galaxy center. Around 30-60% of their present-day luminosity, but only <5% of their present-day mass, is due to star formation in the last 1 Gyr. The color and star-formation activity in these galaxies could be explained by rejuvenation of ellipticals by recent (<1 Gyr) cold gas accretion.
- Publication:
-
The Interplay between Local and Global Processes in Galaxies,
- Pub Date:
- June 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016ilgp.confE..51L
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: general;
- galaxies: structures