The Nature of Post-Starburst Galaxies: Real Deal or Masquerading Impostors?
Elia Cenci, Robert Feldmann, Sarah Wellons, Jindra Gensior, Luigi Bassini, Mauro Bernardini, Rachel Bezanson, Jorge Moreno, David J. Setton, Lucas Tortora
TL;DR
This study uses cosmological simulations to investigate the nature of post-starburst galaxies, revealing that most are impostors with ongoing star formation, and that true PSBs likely result from black hole feedback.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed simulation-based analysis distinguishing true PSBs from impostors and links true PSBs to black hole feedback mechanisms.
Findings
Only ~10% of simulated PSBs are true PSBs with quenched star formation.
Most PSBs in simulations are impostors with ongoing star formation.
Over 70% of true PSBs are predicted to originate from black hole feedback.
Abstract
Post-starburst galaxies (PSBs) are a population of rapidly quenched galaxies that have experienced a recent starburst. Several aspects of the origin and nature of PSBs are currently debated. For example, some PSBs unexpectedly host substantial molecular gas despite their low star-formation activity. Furthermore, the relative role of galaxy mergers, interaction, and stellar or black hole feedback in the formation of PSBs remains unclear. We investigate the nature of PSBs at z=0.7 and z=1 selected via rest-frame optical photometric properties, using the FIREbox cosmological simulation. The fraction of PSBs in FIREbox is in reasonable agreement with observational estimates. However, only ~10% of PSBs in FIREbox are `true' PSBs with temporarily quenched star-formation activity. Most galaxies selected as PSBs in FIREbox are impostors, having star-formation rates and gas masses that are…
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