Project duration: 1yr rotation, with the opportunity to expand into a thesis project
PIs: Dr. Kate Rowlands (krowlands@stsci.edu) & Dr. Katey Alatalo (kalatalo@stsci.edu)
Project motivation
It has only been very recently that astronomers have recognized that molecular gas remains in galaxies much longer than expected, often for over a gigayear after the event that initially quenched the star formation in the system. This new discovery has thrown the general picture of how galaxies transition from star-forming to quiescent into question. If star formation ceases before molecular gas has successfully been exhausted, what mechanisms are at play that are capable of maintaining the molecular gas reservoirs without re-igniting star formation? Post-starburst galaxies have begun to shed light on this question. Namely, many post-starburst galaxies in the local universe show signs of AGN-driven molecular outflows, as well as star formation suppression. Understanding the links between star formation cessation, star formation suppression, and the supermassive black hole is the next step toward gaining a complete picture of how a galaxy stops forming stars, and terminally transitions to quiescent.
Project summary
Drs. Rowlands & Alatalo intend to jointly advise a student, who will be in charge of analyzing both existing and upcoming molecular gas data, optical data, and radio data of a subset of post-starburst galaxies that are exhibiting star formation suppression as well as AGN feedback. Initially, the project will focus on a single case-study, then if the student so desires, will expand outward to local exquisite case study galaxies, followed by a sample of likely AGN-driven outflow hosts that have been identified by our group.
Figure 1: Canonical AGN driven molecular outflow host and post-starburst galaxy NGC 1266, which shows star formation suppression, post-starburst features, and an AGN that is stirring an existing molecular reservoir as well as creating a molecular outflow.
