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Elliptical Galaxies Lost Most of the Gas Below 300,000 Kelvin
Reprocessed FUSE spectra point to mass-dependent hot-gas cooling and roughly tenfold suppression before the molecular phase.
Summary
Reprocessed FUSE spectra point to mass-dependent hot-gas cooling and roughly tenfold suppression before the molecular phase.
A modern reanalysis of archival FUSE spectra measures or limits O VI emission in 29 massive elliptical galaxies and uses it to infer gas cooling through about 300,000 kelvin. The reported comparison suggests cooling from hotter circumgalactic gas is suppressed four to five times more strongly at cluster scale than around groups and ellipticals. Cooling onward to molecular gas appears suppressed by about an order of magnitude across masses, implying additional mixing, conduction or recycling physics.
Why it matters
Reprocessed FUSE spectra point to mass-dependent hot-gas cooling and roughly tenfold suppression before the molecular phase.
Limits and context
No additional limitation was separately recorded.
Key claims
Reprocessed FUSE spectra point to mass-dependent hot-gas cooling and roughly tenfold suppression before the molecular phase.
Evidence: source-2026-09-15-020
Sources
- arXiv preprint 2609.13368arXiv · primary research
Corrections
No corrections have been recorded for this story.