Feedback on Galaxy Formation
Abstract
The rate of star formation in galaxies peaked about 10 billion years ago when the universe was just over 3 billion years old. It has been in decline ever since. Whereas spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way, slowly churn disks of cold gas clouds into young blue stars, giant elliptical galaxies today are dormant. Despite having developed atmospheres of tenuous, 10-million-degree gas waiting to cool and fuel star formation, most are “red and dead” (see the figure). Why they remain so is one of the great mysteries of galaxy formation. On page 1082 of this issue, Morganti et al. (1) reveal part of the answer.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Already a Subscriber?Sign In
References
1
Morganti R., et al., Science 341, 1082 (2013).
2
Combes F., Int. Astron. Union Symp. 217, 440 (2004).
3
Kormendy J., Ho L. C., Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 51, 511 (2013).
4
Alexander D. M., Hickox R. C., New Astron. Rev. 56, 93 (2012).
5
Ferrarese L., Merritt D., Astrophys. J. 539, L9 (2000).
6
Gebhardt K., et al., Astrophys. J. 539, L13 (2000).
7
McNamara B. R., Nulsen P. E. J., Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 45, 117 (2007).
8
Fabian A. C., Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 50, 455 (2012).
9
Veilleux S., Cecil G., Bland-Hawthorne J., Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 43, 769 (2005).
10
Croton D. J., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 365, 11 (2006).
11
Forman W. R., et al., Astrophys. J. 665, 1057 (2007).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Science
Volume 341 | Issue 6150
6 September 2013
6 September 2013
Copyright
Copyright © 2013, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Published in print: 6 September 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Article Usage
Altmetrics
Citations
Export citation
Select the format you want to export the citation of this publication.
View Options
Get Access
Log in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS Members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
- Become a AAAS Member
- Activate your AAAS ID
- Purchase Access to Other Journals in the Science Family
- Account Help
Log in via OpenAthens.
Log in via Shibboleth.
More options
Purchase digital access to this article
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
View options
PDF format
Download this article as a PDF file
Download PDF